The Perfector of Sentiments (POS) Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and the Judicial Service of Ghana, have organized a multi-stakeholder consultative conference to educate stakeholders on a “Zero Draft Community Service bill” in Ho.
The Zero Draft Community Service Bill is to encourage non-custodial punishment for minor Crimes and offences (crimes for which one should be imprisoned for 3 years or less) within the judicial service in order to reduce the pressure on Ghanaian prisons.
[contextly_sidebar id=”mCGYdgiYMkU7d4HuEhlT8btwNaI1j4Vr”]Statistics from the Ghana prisons service indicate that all 43 prisons in the country are currently operating over their designated capacities.
The Ho central prisons, for example, has a lock-up population of 589 instead of its original capacity of 150 inmates.
Executive Director for POS, Jonathan Osei Owusu said the Bill, if passed into law, will reduce recidivism and curb the situation in which less experienced offenders go to prison to learn from more experienced criminals and come out of prison, more hardened than they went in.
He noted that the non-custodial sentencing policy will not only help make offenders to pay back directly to their communities but also lessen the tax payer’s burden in taking care of prisoners.
The non-custodial sentence refers to a punishment regime or policy given by a court of competent jurisdiction that does not involve a prison term. Non-custodial sentencing comes in various forms including community service order, probation order, supervision order (Parole) among others.
The Chairman for the Volta Bar Association, Mr. Micheal Zewu Glover Esq. noted that “existing laws of Ghana do not provide for adequate non-custodial sentencing which usually results in the sentencing of minor offenders to terms of imprisonment.”
He further indicated that even though the Justice for all program has reduced the pressure on the prison Facilities, Non-custodial sentences will help even more in ensuring that minor offenders give back to society and do not get unnecessarily disconnected from their families through incarceration.
Jurisdictions like the U.S.A, Canada, Europe and Australia use non-custodial punishment (community service) as an alternative to imprisonment in criminal sentencing.
If the ‘Zero draft ‘community service Bill’ gets the assent in Ghana, then Ghana will join the likes of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in reducing pressure on the prisons and in causing minor offenders to pay back to their societies instead of being imprisoned and being fed with the taxpayers’ money.
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By: Benjamin Aklama | citinewsroom.com | Ghana | bkaklama@gmail.com