By Franklin Asare-Donkoh
Some Civil Society Organizations operating within the legal and judicial space have appealed to journalists to use their platforms to push for Community Sentencing for minor offenses, so as to decongest the country’s prisons.
The group also called on the media to help publicize benefits Ghana stands to gain from the promulgation of a Community Service Bill which is about to be laid before Ghana’s Parliament.
The CSOs made the call at a sensitization workshop for journalists on Community Sentencing in Ghana organized by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and its partners on Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Accra.
The session brought together about 50 media practitioners and highlighted the importance of Community Service Sentencing in Ghana’s justice delivery system and the need for stakeholders’ support to advance the process.
Welcoming participants to the workshop, Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Ms. Mina Mensah observed that the world is going in the direction of non-custodial sentencing and Ghana cannot be left behind.
“In fact, the disadvantages of custodial sentencing for some minor and non-violent offenses in Ghana far outweigh the benefits the country stands to gain, hence the need to consider alternative means of achieving most of the objectives of imprisonment such as community service for such crimes. Besides, the prisons in Ghana are already chocked leading to undesirable outcomes. Huge prison cost, disease burden, as well as human right abuses of the inmate.” Ms. Mensah disclosed.
On her part the Assistant Director at the Ministry for the Interior, Gifty Quaye, gave a background of Ghana’s Community Service Bill and its current state, said when the bill if passed will bring to bear to existing laws.
The Assistant Director at the Ministry’s for the Interior revealed that the revised draft Community Service Bill has already been sent to the Office of the Attorney General for revision.
She, urged the Media Practitioners to enhance their awareness creation on the Bill to deepen the knowledge of the public.
Meanwhile, the Director of Programs at the Institute of Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (IHRDA), Mr. Edmund Amarkwei-Foli, during a presentation on the topic: “Community Service Sentencing” A Prerequisite to Enhancing Justice Delivery in Ghana, maintained that Community Service Sentencing is the best way to go if the country wants to make gains in its Justice delivery system.
Mr. Martin Nwosu took participants through International Standards and Best Practices on the Community Service Sentencing and its Implementation. While, a Senior Programs Officer at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Mrs. Regina Oforiwaa Amanfo Tetteh on her part, highlighted the role of the media in advancing alternatives to imprisonment in Ghana.
Community Service Sentencing is defined as unpaid work that benefits the Community instead of custodial sentencing. A Judge can often sentence a convicted defendant to Community Service as an alternative to a jail sentence.
Currently, Ghana is among many African countries taking measures to introduce Community Service Sentencing as alternative means of punishing minor offenders of the law, without necessarily resorting to imprisonment. Major stakeholders in the criminal justice delivery system including the Ghana Prisons Service have established the need for reforms in legislative and sentencing practices. In view of this, the Ministry of Interior has since 2014 initiated the process for Ghana to have an Alternative Sentencing regime with support from stakeholders.
Read also: Draft Non-Custodial Sentencing Bill to be laid in Parliament
