He, therefore, called on civil society groups within the legal system to push for non-custodial sentences so that minor offences would not lead accused persons into prison. A non-custodial sentence is when a person who comes into contact with the law is found guilty, however, instead of handing the culprit a prison term, he or she is given a fine or a probation order or a community service.

Mr Justice Honyenuga made these remarks in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the side-lines of a validation workshop on the Community Service Bill (CSB). The workshop was organised by the POS Foundation, a human rights advocacy group, with support from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

The Foundation came out with the Draft Bill after the Chief Justice had tasked it to use its advocacy to push for prison decongestion from the convict and legislative point of view. Mr Justice Honyenuga noted that under the non-custodial sentencing, community service would be undertaken at where the accused person lives, because the society must benefit from the service he or she was going to render under supervision.

He said this would help the state to reduce the cost of taking care of prisoners.

Mr Jonathan Osei-Owusu, the Executive Director, POS Foundation, speaking to the GNA, recounted that about two months ago the Chief Justice launched the regional consultations on the Community Service Bill, which was part of the Non-Custodial Sentencing Policy.

He said the Foundation went throughout the 10 regions to seek input from key stakeholders on the Draft Bill. He said the consultations focused on what could be done to better the Bill so that when passed into an Act it would enhance effective justice delivery.

Mr Osei-Owusu said among the key objectives of the Bill was to tackle prison decongestion, cut down cost in terms of taking care of prisoners and curb the issue of recidivism (where people who have been sentenced into custody get into contact with hardened criminals). He said the validation workshop on the CSB, therefore, created a platform for key stakeholders to deliberate on the report gathered from the regional consultations.

He said at the close of the day, they had a draft CSB, which they would forward to the appropriate authorities for their perusal. “For this particular CSB we believe that all stakeholders agreed that we should also draft a zero draft Legislative Instrument (LI) to support the Bill in order to have a clearer picture during its implementation,” he said.