The Ghana Prisons Service by its mandate, is supposed to contribute to the preservation of internal security by sustaining of a well-organized, civilized and safe reformatory penal system within the laws of Ghana.
The total number of Prisons in Ghana is 43 with an authorized inmate capacity of 9,875. As at 2017, the total number of inmates in all the prisons in Ghana was in the region of 13,764, comprising 11,912 convicted prisoners and 1,852 non-convicted prisoners. Of the total number of convicts and non-convicted inmates, 168 are women and 202 are juveniles.
These heartbreaking statistics is at best, obscene to the democratic world and best practice within the reformatory and correctional world. It calls for a radical attempt at a solution.
No one is calling for the total suspension of the Criminal Code of 1960, Criminal and Other Offences Act 1960 or other Acts that criminalises certain offences.
However, could prison sentence be the only option to deter people from crime?
A non-custodial sentence simple means criminal sentence served elsewhere than in a prison (for example, on probation). In other advanced jurisdiction, non-custodial sentences have proved to be a powerful toll in the correctional process of offenders of the law.
Such non-custodial sentences ranges from Community Service Order, Good behavior Bond, driving disqualification, fines and monetary orders etcetera. There is substantial evidence that in many cases non-custodial sentences are at least as effective as custodial ones, besides having significant additional advantages.
Indeed, sociologists and criminologists have, through many years of research, proved that imprisonment does not deter recidivism nor does it often times reduce crime. In fact, imprisonment is even more likely to harden a non-serious offender.
The application of non-custodial sentences to curb harsh sentences, improve our correctional systems and reduce the pressure on the Prisons is not rocket science. If the State therefore seeks to improve the justice system, much efforts should be geared towards serious reforms in the reformatory and correctional system and this can be achieved by taking a holistic approach to our sentencing guidelines to include non-custodial sentences.
