One area that has not received adequate attention in our national march towards increased protection of and respect for human rights has been the condition of our prisons and the situation of our prisoners. The LRC came to these conclusions based on our experiences in our legal aid clinic. Almost half of the work load of the Clinic is in the area of criminal defence. As a human rights organization that provides legal aid, our members of staff have had occasion to visit prisons to consult with clients and thus have had a first hand experience of the problems faced by prisoners and prison officers in our prisons.
The rules of criminal procedure and the legislation and regulations governing prisoners and prison conditions clearly do not create room for the violation of certain rights of incarcerated persons either before trial, during trial or after conviction. However, the problem of lack of lawyers pursuing the cases of detained indigent persons and ensuring strict compliance with existing rules, inevitably results in failure to obtain bail, delays in trials, long incarcerations and even wrongful convictions. The absence of effective monitoring of prison conditions, the situation of prisoners and the activities of prison authorities and their officials have created opportunities for massive violation of the rights of prisoners and the abuse of power by prison officials. Since the attention of policy makers and politicians are hardly drawn to the conditions of prisoners and prisons, little attention is given to prison policy and the need to review the existing legal and policy framework, including increased financial support for the prisons sector.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is one institution that tries to monitor prison conditions annually. Their work is, however, hampered by resource constraints. CHRAJ is also a state funded institution, with all the attendant disabilities that state established and funded institutions suffer from. CHRAJ has other limitations. It has both a human rights and administrative justice mandate and does not have the resources to effectively execute both. Thus, CHRAJ, is unable to provide direct legal aid in many cases involving prisoners. CHRAJ is also unlikely to be able to follow up on the cases of persons incarcerated in cells or on remand awaiting trial. This is because, when a matter is before the regular courts, the jurisdiction of CHRAJ is constitutionally ousted. With all these limitations, CHRAJ’s efforts to monitor prison conditions and promote respect for the rights of prisoners needs to be supported by human rights organisations that have less restrictive mandates.
C. THE PROBLEMS
The LRC identified the following to be the problems with the prisons sector:
Inattention
to prisons policy and regulatory reform;
Limited or lack of access to justice for prisoners;
Ineffective monitoring of prison conditions;
Limited resources to the prisons sector.
D. APPROACHES TO SOLVING PROBLEMS
Dealing with these problems requires a number of approaches. These approaches include:
Initiating
research and dialogue on prison sector reform;
Projecting issues relating to prisoners to the arena of policy debate;
Ensuring periodic review of the regulatory/administrative/legislative
and policy framework relating to prisoners, prison conditions and the
Prisons Service.
Promoting access to justice for impecunious persons in conflict with the
law and for convicts on appeal;
Promoting respect for the rights of convicts through increased monitoring
of the activities and conduct of persons and institutions responsible
for maintaining prisoners; and
Mobilising civil society groups to lobby for increased resources to the
prisons sector.
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The LRC designed the Prisons Project to achieve the following objectives:
To conduct
research into prison sector reform;
To work with policy makers to periodically review the regulatory framework
for the prisons sector;
To increase awareness of the rights of prisoners and promote respect for
those rights;
To provide legal aid to indigent persons in prisons awaiting trial or
appealing against wrongful conviction-the target is to provide legal assistance
to about 500 prisoners and persons in police cells and other detention
centres;
To assist in monitoring prisons and the conditions of prisoners to ensure
that prison authorities comply with existing regulations meant to protect
prisoners’ rights;
Lobby for increased attention and funding leading to a comprehensive reform
of the prisons sector; and
Establish a coalition of governmental agencies and NGOs working in the
prisons sector for the reform agenda.
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To achieve the above objectives the following activities have been carried out by the LRC:
Sourcing
for funds;
The identification and enlistment of the support of key stakeholders in
the prisons sector;
Launching the “Prisons Project” in order to draw public attention
and support for the project;
Conducting policy research into the prisons sector;
Prison visits and inspections for the purpose of monitoring prison conditions;
Qualitative one on one interviews with 2000 prisoners and 50 prison officers
on prison conditions;
Client representation interviews of 2000 prisoners in Nsawam, James Fort,
Tamale and Navrongo prisons;
Court representation for about 100 prisoners;
Beginning a dialogue for the establishment of a prisoners review board
to deal expeditiously with, “very special cases” and “special
cases” involving wrongful convictions and similar such egregious
injustices;
The submission of petitions for presidential pardons for “very special
cases” and “special cases” pending the establishment
of the prisons review board;
Working with other NGOs in the area of rehabilitation, training and placement
of ex-convicts;
A comprehensive review of the policy, legal, regulatory and administrative
set-up of the prisons sector with a view to changing the types of sentences
passed on convicts, prison conditions and the processes for reviewing
the cases of convicts and remand prisoners;
Advocacy for a major reform of the entire prisons sector.
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SOURCING
FOR FUNDS: The LRC submitted a comprehensive proposal on the Prisons Project
to the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in Dakar, Senegal.
OSIWA approved the proposal and has given a grant of US$45,000 to the
LRC for the project.
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SUPPORT FROM MAJOR STAKEHOLDERS AND PARTNERS:
The LRC
has forged working relationships with several persons and institutions
in the prisons sector. These include the Ministry of the Interior, the
Prisons Council, the Ghana Prisons Service, the Commission on Human Rights
and Administrative Justice, the African Commission on Human and Peoples
Rights, many NGOs, and many lawyers. All these persons and institutions
have pledged and practically displayed their full support for the prisons
project.
The Prisons Service Council, the constitutional body that decides policy
and regulatory matters relating to prisons in Ghana has asked the LRC
to be its key adviser and collaborator in all legal matters relating to
the prisons sector.
The project
was launched at the Miklin Hotel in Accra on Tuesday the 6th of August
2002. The Associate Executive Director of the LRC, Mr. Raymond A. Atuguba
outlined the key objectives and attendant activities at this ceremony.
His speech was followed by that of the Deputy Minister for the Interior,
Mr. Kwadwo Afram-Asiedu who indicated the support of the government to
the Prisons Project. The following themes were also discussed. The Director-General
of Prisons, Mr. Richard Kuuire led the discussion on “Key Issues
in Achieving Improvements in the Conditions of Prisoners”. The Commissioner
for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Mr. Francis Emile Short led
the discussion on “Key Issues in the Human Rights of Prisoners”,
and a member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and
one time special rapporteur on prisons and conditions of detention in
Africa, Prof. EVO Dankwa, led the discussion on “The International
Legal Framework for the Protection of Prisoner’s Rights”.
Present at the ceremony were prison officers, lawyers, representatives
of the Minister for Justice, officials of the social welfare department
and representatives of other governmental and non governmental bodies.
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POLICY RESEARCH INTO THE PRISONS SECTOR:
The LRC has
initiated sophisticated policy research into the prisons sector. The first
product, the concept paper on prison sector reform is attached as Appendix
A. A detailed action plan for prison sector reform has also been drafted
and was used to prepare the new funding proposal which is attached as
appendix F.
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The LRC
has so far visited four prisons in Ghana and held meetings with prison
officers and prisoners. These are the Nsawam Medium Security Prison, the
James Fort Remand Prison, the Tamale Regional Prison, and the Navrongo
Regional Prison. The LRC has also visited these prisons several times
in order to assess the conditions under which prisoners live and to administer
questionnaires to prisoners and prison officers. LRC lawyers have also
had to visit several other prisons, police cells and other detention centres
in the country in the process of defending prisoners in criminal trials
or appealing against their sentences.
Separate meetings have been held with the officers in charge of our target
prisons. The officer in charge of the James Fort Prison Accra, DSP Assani,
laments the problems facing his institution. He cites overcrowding as
the main problem. He said this results from several factors including
the inability, and sometimes, the inaction of the police in fetching inmates
for court hearings when their cases are due for hearing. Another cause
of overcrowding he identified was the practice of the police in conducting
raids in slums and rounding up suspected criminals who are then invariably
detained for various periods of time to await trial. These suspects are
dumped in his facility, which is a remand prison, and invariably there
is no further action by the police on these cases. The team learnt that
many of the inmates have spent long periods on remand without trial, the
longest serving being 9 years. The LRC has toured this facility several
times and it is our opinion, and that of the prison officers that the
authorities should seriously consider discarding the fort as a prison
as it was not initially built for dignified human habitation. Recently,
after a visit by the Minister for the Interior, the prison was described
as a death trap.
The team has held several meetings with Commander Ben Quaye, the officer-in- charge of the Nsawam Medium Security Prison in the Eastern Region during most of the life of the project. The commander was very supportive of the project, and the staff of the LRC are allowed easy access to the facility.
The LRC has also visited the Tamale Regional Prison and the Navrongo Regional Prison.
ADMINISTRATION OF QUESTIONNAIRES:
On 29 August
2002 the team, comprising 3 lawyers including the Associate Executive
Director of the LRC and 2 legal assistants, piloted questionnaires at
the Nsawam Medium Security Prison. The questionnaires were administered
for select inmates covering the categories of condemned, convicts, remand
prisoners, trials and deportees. The purpose of this was to create individual
case files for about 2000 prisoners for the purpose of legal representation;
the identification of very special and special cases involving egregious
injustices which need to be redressed immediately; and to gather information
relating to the prison conditions and human rights abuses in the prisons
from prisoners and prison officers.
It was realised at this stage that the LRC would not achieve its target
with only 5 people on the team vis-à-vis the enormity of the task.
As a result, 10 legal interns at the LRC were drafted to assist the team
to administer the questionnaires.
The administration of the questionnaire for the Nsawam Prison and the James Fort Prison was done in the month of September. That for the Tamale and Navrongo prisons were done in October. The breakdown of the administration of the questionnaires is as follows:
Nsawam Medium Security Prison
Convicts - 754
Condemned - 260
(Death row)
Trail - 1
Remand - 199
Total - 1,214
James Fort Remand Prison
Convicts - 2
Remand - 482
Total - 484
Tamale Regional Prison
Remand - 15
Total - 15
Navrongo
Regional Prison
Convicts - 150
Remand - 147
Total - 297
Grand Total - 2000
The total number of questionnaires administered was 2000.
The set of 2000 questionnaires has been analysed to create a dossier for each prisoner, showing the status of the individual prisoner. Information relating to the state of the prisons, the condition of prisoners, categories of prisoners and related matters has also been analyses. Appendix B contains a draft analysis of various thems in these questionnaires. More resources are needed for a more scientific and thorough analysis of the questionnaires which constitute a worth of information. We hope to do this in the next phase of the project.
So far the
LRC has provided or is providing legal representation for about 100 prisoners
in the law courts. Over 2000 prisoners are benefiting from an amnesty
to prisoners announced by the President of Ghana after the LRC sent a
petition to him through the Prisons Council. A further 500 is expected
to benefit in the next petition which will be sent through the Director
of Prisons and the Chairman of the Prisons Council to the President. See
Appendix C for a copy of the petition to the President of the Republic
of Ghana submitted through the Prisons Service Council.
The team has also held several meetings with The Director-General of the
Ghana Prison Service, Mr Richard Kuuire, who impressed upon the LRC to
include the Ho central prison in the project and has furnished the LRC
with a record of all remand inmates at that prison.
The Director-General also requested the LRC to take action on special cases identified by the Chairman of the Prison Service Council during a tour to the Nsawam Prison in September 2002. The report on this request is attached as Appendix D.
The LRC has
liased with other NGOs and donor agencies to provide training, rehabilitation
and placement of ex-prisoners. There organisations include Prisoners Reform
and Welfare Advocacy (PRAWA), PRESBYTERIAN PRISONS MINISTRY, the Ghana
Association of Health and Human Rights Promoters and British Women’s
Association and is set to train 6 female inmates at the Nsawam Prisons
in tailoring skills. The proposal for this project is appendixed as appendix
E.
The LRC has also formed a core group of NGOs called the Ghana NGO coalition
on Prison Reform. This group will lead the prison reform program which
the LRC is executing. The new proposal is submitted by the LRC on behalf
of this group.
The main strength of the project is the confidence placed in the project
by the prison authorities and the support lent by other major stakeholders
and key personalities in the corrections field.
Another strength of the project is the current networking with other NGOs in the area of prison reform and rehabilitation and placement of ex-convicts to prevent recidivism, which may defeat the object of the project.
The funding from OSIWA is also key to the success of the first phase of the project.
The human resources of the LRC’s energetic, hardworking and dedicated prisons team is the driving force behind the project.
It is the concern of the LRC that a reform of the prisons sector without
corresponding reforms in related areas, especially the Judiciary and Police
service, would be of less than optimum effect. We need to initiate complementary
reforms in the Police Service so that, to take one little example, the
police will be up to the task of fetching prisoners to court when their
cases are due for hearing and not abandon them to their fate in the prisons.
The Judiciary should also be encouraged to rethink its sentencing policy
and seriously consider non-custodial sentences in deserving cases. The
analyses of our questionnaires show that some judges are too eager to
throw convicts into jail and persons on trial into remand prisons or police
cells.
The funding from OSIWA for the provision of legal representation for 500 prisoners and for a few other advocacy activities now appears very limited indeed. We have considered the cases of over 2000 prisoners and are thinking more in terms of a major institutional reform in the entire prisons sector and related sectors.
The other key concern is that the LRC prisons hotline is still active and we get referrals very often. This is also the case with the referral system we established with the Prisons Service and the Police. Even after the lifetime of the project LRC staff still spend a significant amount of time on prisons work. A non-renewal of the project will be disastrous indeed.
The LRC intends to carry on with the prisons project for the next 3 to
5 years. It therefore contracted two consultants to do a concept paper
and then a broader action plan for a sustained programme of reform of
the prisons sector over that period (See Appendix A). The consultants
are Mr. Dominic M. Ayine, the Executive Director of the Centre for Public
Interest Law and a law lecturer and Prof. EVO Dankwa of the African Commission
on Human and Peoples Rights and a Professor of Law. Prof. Dankwa was one
time the African Commission’s special rapporteur on prisons in Africa.
Some aspects of the draft action plan are already being implemented by
the LRC and are contained in the new proposal.
A mid-term report was presented to OSIWA in February this year.
This constitutes the final report for the project and will be sent by email and in hard copy to osiwa.
The account summary, the detailed accounts and vouchers and original receipts, have been transmitted by post to OSIWA.
The Prisons project is ongoing.
The Legal Resources Centre(LRC) runs various programmes to enhance the rights of the Ghanaian citizenry.
Programmes currently run are
- Parliamentary advocacy(funded by USAID)
- Human Rights Cities Project
- Prisoners Rights Defense( funded by OSIWA)
- Right to Development( health)(funded by FXB-School of Public Health, Harvard)
- The Right to Economic Social and Cultural Rights Nima project (funded by DEON foundation)
- Democracy and Good Governance project-Bongo and Walewale(funded by National Good Governance Secretariate)
- Legal Aid/ADR ( funded by Democracy and Human Rights fund of the American Embassy)
Programmes on hold for lack of funding
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre