By Patrick Biddah
The solution to the appalling congestion at the country’s prisons, seem to have been found with the aggressive advocacy for a non custodial sentencing regime.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative ( CHRI) which is pushing for the non-custodial sentencing, otherwise known as community sentencing, has advanced some argument to drum home the advocacy.
For example, they argue that perpetrators of petty crimes such as plantain thieves, who are thrown into jail come out hardened after serving years prison.
They contend that these petty thieves, who otherwise would have been better punished with some form of community service, are rather thrown into jail and they end up advancing in crimes in view of the other hardened convicts they meet in prison.
At a media sensitization workshop in Accra on the need for community sentencing to become part of our statutes and as a prescribed punishments for most petty crimes, the Director for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative at the Accra Office, Ms Mina Mensah, indicated that available data has shown that countries which have moved from custodial sentencing to community sentencing, are seeing these convicts more reformed.
Many countries, she stressed are moving towards non custodial sentencing which is why Ghana, which has an enviable democratic records, should follow suits since the trends are resulting in the reduction of crimes in those countries.
The media sensitization which brought about a wide range of media practitioners from the print, electronic and online, was to also take their input into the advocacy.
An Assistant Director at the Ministry of Interior, Ms. Gifty Quaye, who delivered a speech gave the state of the Community Sentence Bill when she said it is currently at the Attorney Generals Office for fine tuning.
If passed, a district prison service officer, will be tasked with the responsibility of enforcing all the judgment relating to community sentencing.
Also speaking at the workshop was the Director of Programmes at the Institute of Human Rights and Democracy in Ghana, Mr Edmund Amankwei Folley, who said most crimes in Ghana are stealing and assault.
According to him , a mere community sentencing will go a long way to separate such accuse persons who properly stole or got in a fight with someone over a small misunderstanding not to mingle with an armed robber or a murderer if convicted to serve together with the later in prison.
He said the solution to reforming such offenders most times are a simple counseling, police supervision to do a community service and in some cases anger management class for a person like that.
Some of the benefits of Community Sentence, he pointed out includes the promotion of reconciliation between the offender and the victim as well as the fact that it helps to prevent the repetition of the same crime.
A senior programme officer with Center For Democratic Development ( CDD) Mrs Regina Amanfo Tetteh, called on the media to play their part to ensure that the necessary awareness is created on the proposed bill.
