The Justice for All (J4A) Project is designed to address the grey areas emanating from Ghana’s weak Justice delivery system. Remand prisoners are persons being held in Prison whiles awaiting their trial. Most Prisoners on Remand have been confined within the corridors of the Prison because they are poor, abandoned by their families and cannot afford legal services. Many remand prisoners in Northern Ghana are being held in prison on expired warrant of commitment. A warrant of commitment is the document that gives the prison the authority to hold a prisoner and contains the reason why someone is in prison. The warrant of commitment of remand prisoners contains a time limit; a judge should decide every 14 days whether or not the warrant should be renewed. This often does not happen, due to system inefficiencies and lack of resources, but is an important safeguard against holding prisoners for no reason or without following due process.
It is from these worrying background and abuse of the fundamental human rights of remand and other convicted prisoners that this HOPE project is seeking to improve the status quo by promoting fair trials through justice for remand prisoners’ initiatives. CSD Reform shall partner the Prison authorities to do a comprehensive profiling of all remand cases to enable them receive free legal services under the HOPE Project.