The Crime Check Foundation (CCF) believes that the granting of amnesty to 808 prisoners by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was woefully inadequate in the fight against the spread of the deadly Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in prisons.
Rather, it has appealed to the President, that looking at the dangers the COVID-19 pandemic present to “incarcerated populations in prisons, and the fact that for the past three years the number of prisoners granted amnesty by the President has been minimal,” President Akufo-Addo should consider pardoning more first time offenders.
In a statement issued Thursday, March 26, by its Executive Director, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng in a reaction to the President’s amnesty to 808 prisoners, Crime Check Foundation said Ghana’s 44 prisons will be hard hit, should prisoners and wardens contract COVID-19.
It said as most prisons around the world begin to release more and more prisoners and modify sentences to avoid further spread of the disease among prison populations, it has become even more expedient in the case of Ghana for the President to pardon more first time offenders with lower sentences, as well as the sick and the aged, most of whom do not pose a risk to society.
Source: Fiilafmonline/Graphic
