Nineteen remand prisoners at the Kumasi Central Prisons, including two women – a pregnant and a nursing mother, have regained their freedom under the “Justice for All Project”.
Twenty-seven 27 others were also granted bail on varied conditions after their cases were reviewed.
One of the freed women, Fidaus Seidu, carrying an eight-month pregnancy, had been on remand for more than seven months over alleged involvement in the robbery of a man, whose cash of GH¢ 79, recorder, and face towel were stolen.
Rashida Halidu, on her part, was accused of her boyfriend’s murder and gave birth to a child in prison, who is now five-months old.
Justice Clement Honyenugah, an Appeal Court Judge, Justices Abdallah Iddrisu and Constant Hometowu, both High Court Judges, had reviewed their cases at a special sitting held under the project at the Central Prison Yard in Kumasi.
In all, the justices considered 68 applications out of which four were struck out and 18 were refused.
The Project is the joint effort of the Attorney-General’s Department, the Judiciary, Ghana Bar Association, Prisons Service, STAR-Ghana and Human Rights Organizations to decongest and ease pressure on the country’s prisons.
It is also meant to uphold due process of the law so that nobody is treated unfairly and unjustly.
Started in 2007, the statistics show that a total of 3,005 remand prisoners have had their cases reviewed across the country and out of this, 526 of them had been discharged with 533 others granted bail and 41 convicted.
Justice Honyenugah urged district and magistrate courts to hear from accused persons before remanding them.
It is against this background that all cases they sat on were from these courts.
Source: GhanaWeb
