Mrs Matilda Baffuor Awuah, Controller General of Ghana Prisons on Thursday said the prison population as at October 2014 ending stands at 14, 777.

This, she said has overstretched the occupancy rate by more than 50 per cent of the original capacity.

She said out of this, 11, 653 are convicts and 3,124 are on remand. The remand prisoners constitute 21 per cent of the total prison population.

Mrs Awuah said this at opening of a two-day forum in Accra, on non-custodial sentencing aimed among other things at decongesting the country’s prisons to make conditions better and internationally acceptable.

She said “indeed in some Prison facilities like Nsawam, Kumasi, Sunyani, Sekondi, Tarkwa and Tamale overcrowding rate ranges from 150 per cent to 300 per cent each day due largely to the presence of high number of remand prisoners”.

Mrs Awuah said because of the phenomenon there is the need for the construction of new prisons, in line with the best practices, although it does not provide sustainable solution.

She said numerous international instruments recommend rationalisation in sentencing policy, including the wider use of alternatives to imprisonment.

She said community sanctions assist in smooth reintegration of the offenders and ultimately create opportunities from victims and communities to benefit from offenders, especially in social and economic development.

She said in Ghana some sections of the law empowers judges to use alternative sentences such as probation orders, fines, suspended sentences and sections 352-369 of the Criminal and other offenses (Procedure) Act, 1960 Act 30 highlight on probation and discharge of offenders.

“The practice of non-custodial sentencing is new to Africa and we in Ghana are about to undertake the journey so whether it will be successful or not will depend on the level of interest and participation of the public, government and non-governmental organisation therefore the public should be educated to gain their confidence that there are numerous advantages to be derived from non-custodial sentencing,” she said.

Mr Mark Woyongo, Minister of the Interior who opened the forum said a large number of prison inmates are those on remand with expired warrants and some have spent more years on remand than would have suffered if they had been convicted on the offenses they have been charged with.

He said: “Freedom and justice is our national motto but why are people put on remand for so long denying them of their freedom?”

He said President John Dramani Mahama, Cabinet and the Chief Justice have given their approval for the forum leading to the fashioning of a new sentencing regime.

He called on participants to look into the issues with all seriousness so that a feasible legal roadmap would be crafted for approval by Parliament.

Mr Woyongo called for a re-examination of the practice by the courts to remand first offenders for suspected crimes, irrespective of the gravity of the offence, which tend to increase the number of inmates the prisons.

He said “I am not advocating that criminals should not be punished but I am saying that the punishment should be commensurate with the offence.

Mr Daniel Akwasi Amankwa, Divisional Supervisor for Demand Reduction at the Narcotics Control Board said, it is easier arresting drug users rather than couriers or barons, while many users are also caught and prosecuted , leading to the choking of the prisons.

Mr Amankwa suggested the piloting of a drug court system, a criminal justice reform system of the 20th century practiced in the United States, saying “it shifts from incarceration be piloted as an alternative to incarceration of drug users”.

“This is because incarceration of drug users has not reduced drug use as expected, in some instances, drug use continues even in the prisons,” he explained.

He said studies have shown that the drug court system is effective in reducing prison population.

He said: “Today all the 50 states of the US implement the drug court system and besides, there are over 20 countries including Australia and New Zealand which have adopted the drug court system.”