The trial of the four juvenile suspects in the gang-raping case of a female at Bantama in Kumasi has brought up the issue of separate correctional or remand centres for minors connected to criminal cases. 

The laws of Ghana require that minors involved in crime be treated differently from adults in similar situations such that there must be both Junior and Senior Correctional Homes or Bostal Homes. 

These should serve as state facilities responsible for reforming children convicted and committed to prison terms for the commission of crimes. 

Checks by Radio Ghana’s Correspondent, Nicholas Osei-Wusu has revealed that the only Remand Centre in the Ashanti Region was closed down in 2013, for lack of maintenance and since then, no serious effort has been made to restore the facility to serve its purpose. 

The former Remand Centre is situated in the densely populated Asawasi community and surrounded by temporal structures being used by squatters and petty traders. The place is so crowded that one has to be led to the place by a familiar person.

The Juvenile Remand Centre was built in the late 1940s to serve the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and part of the Central regions as a holding centre for minors. 

The Centre has residential quarters for the Warden and Assistant as well as Supervisors who are all from the Department of Social Welfare.Integral to the facility are Boys and Girls’ Dormitories with ancillary facilities. 

Now, the Remand Centre is a pale shadow of itself even though the physical structures remain intact. A visit to the defunct Centre showed the facility is in a very deplorable state and in need of urgent maintenance. 

An Assistant Warden and staff of the Department of Social Welfare, Madam Stella Yirbaar, who conducted Radio Ghana around the Centre disclosed that recently there was a burglary attack on the premises of the Kumasi Metro Director of Social Welfare during which her electrical and home appliances were taken away. 

In an interview, the Ashanti Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mrs. Patricia Kyeremateng Berchie, disclosed that the Remand Centre was closed down in 2013 for lack of maintenance. 

The close down was also necessitated by the escape of five out of six inmates through the weak ceiling of the centre.

Mrs. Berchie said for now, the only alternative for juvenile who have been accused of any form of crime, is remand into Police Cells, pending final determination of their cases.

On conviction, the only option is to send the convicts to Accra where there is a Correctional Home.

The Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare noted that since the closure of the Centre in 2013, a Report has been made to her superiors for the appropriate action to be taken, yet there has not been any positive feedback. 

As the issue of moral degeneration is increasing especially considering the involvement of minors in suspected criminal cases, it is the duty of authorities to take the appropriate steps to address these issues since it borders on human and legal rights of minors.

GBCONLINE
---DECRYPTED---