The POS Foundation, Facilitators of the Justice For All Programme, has commended the President of Ghana for granting amnesty to 808 Convict Prisoners in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Executive Director of POS Foundation, Jonathan Osei Owusu, the pardon on the 808 prisoners is the right move for a country that seeks to promote the human rights conditions of its citizens.
In a statement on March 26, 2020 and signed by the Director-General of the Prisons Service, Patrick Darko Missah, 808 prisoners were asked to go home by the President.
The category of people who benefited from the President’s pardon included first time offenders, seriously ill, convicts on death row commutes to life imprisonment, inmates serving life sentence commuted to 20 years definite term and very old prisoners in their 70s.
This gesture by the president, according to Mr. Osei Owusu, is in line with the fulfillment of Article 72 (1) of Ghana’s constitution to help decongest the Prisons.
He said, at a time when the COVID-19 Pandemic has hit several countries globally including Ghana, the President’s gesture would go a long way to help prevent community spread of the virus amongst the Prison inmates which is a great step in the right direction.
He also urged the President to extend his pardon to the Pre-Trial Detainees in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Mr. Osei Owusu added that though the State-driven intervention Justice For All has been able to reduce the remand population from 33% in 2007 to 13.4% as of November 29, 2019, and called on the President and all stakeholders to act fast to reduce it even further.
