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Concerns have been raised by various stakeholders over the years about deplorable conditions in the country�s prisons and how to help improve upon the situation. However, it was not until I had the opportunity as a Journalist to accompany the Minister of Interior, Mr Mark Woyongo, on a working visit to the Navrongo Prisons in the Upper East Region, that I really appreciated the magnitude of the problem. For us the pressmen, obtaining permission to enter the prison yard was a problem. We were initially told to go back but we insisted until we were told by one of the officers to wait whilst he went and asked for permission from the boss. Whilst waiting for the officer to return, I heard one of the wardens remark: �I don�t want to lose my job, you know I have children and family�. Then the officer returned and told us we had been given the green light to enter the Prison under one condition. The condition being that we should handover our cameras, recorders and phones to the officer at the counter before we could be allowed to enter. So, we obeyed but I managed to smuggle my phone inside, and this aided me in my work. To share the insight with readers, I would like to recount some of the conversations that went on between some of the Prison Officers and the Interior Minister. Mr Woyongo: �How many inmates are here?� Prison Commander: �The Navrongo Prison is supposed to contain 80 prisoners but as it stands now there are 217 inmates. The over-crowded nature of the Prison could lead to the outbreak of diseases such as Cholera. Each of the Prisoners is entitled to only GH�1.80 worth of food ration per day which is woefully inadequate. In fact the rate of feeding is inadequate looking at the current increases in the price of food.� The Prison has a Medical Assistant but without equipment and adequate medicines to cater for the Prisoners when they fall sick. Another problem confronting the Prison is lack of means of transport. �We have only one small vehicle which we have been using to convey the Prisoners from Navrongo to the Court in Bolgatanga which is about 29km. The Prison also lacks a workshop for the training of the inmates�, the Commander stated. The above scenario is what is pertaining in one of the country�s prisons and the gross violation of human rights, whereby many of the inmates on remand are confined under such conditions for about 7 to 14 years without trial and with expired remand warrants. Prisoners� experiences: Mustapha Dawuda, who is on remand in the prison told the Interior Minister and his Deputy, Mr. James Agalga, and the Director of Prisons, that he had been in the prison for seven years without trail . �I have nobody to cater for my children and family. I was a driver and I used to work to cater for my family but now that I am here they have nobody. I was just picked up as a suspect and have since not been tried by the court and this is a complete violation of my fundamental human rights�, he stressed. Narrating his story to the Interior Minister, another remand prisoner, said he had been in the prison since 2009 without trial. According to him he was brought from Kumasi to the Navrongo Prison and had since not seen any of his relatives. �Even how to get soap to bath is a problem let alone to talk about washing my clothing�, he added. �I have not tasted sugar and meat for a long time, because they give us small porridge without sugar. The same thing goes for meat. The sanitary conditions here too are not the best. Our bath and toilet facilities are too small to contain our number�, remarked Yahaya Imoro who said he had also been on remand for 5 years now. It should be pointed out that the dehumanizing nature and the plight of the prisoners in the Navrongo Prison is not an isolated case. There is no gainsaying that the prevailing conditions in the Navrongo prison are not different from other prisons in the country. There is substantial evidence to prove that the conditions in our prisons are not the best. One of such evidence is the March 2014 UN Report which condemns the standards in Ghana�s prisons and prayer camps. To quote from the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN) report, �The human rights conduct in Ghana�s prisons and prayer camps does not meet international standards. There remains a strong element of traditional practice that must be engaged with, in order to ensure that human rights take hold in all regions of the country�. Another case in point that could be cited to buttress the fact that the plight of the country�s prisoners is not the best is the observation of the 2012 Amnesty International Report. According to the report, there are approximately 3,000 prisoners being held on remand across Ghana. That means about 22 per cent of prisoners in Ghana have never been convicted of any crime. Compounding this problem, there are a huge number of remand prisoners with expired remand warrants. In 2012 for example there were about 835 prisoners who remained incarcerated in prison on expired warrants in the Nsawam Prison alone. Warrants of commitment are only valid for a period of 14 days but this is often ignored, thus making more prisoners to remain in prison for years without trial after their warrants have expired. It is difficult to imagine being held in prison for such long periods, without any prospect of release or advancement of one's case. These inhuman instances still exist despite the �Justice for All Programme�, which was started in 2007 as an initiative of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General. The programme aims to bring �justice to the doorstep of all citizens, especially the vulnerable in society�, and includes remand review as part of its mandate. However, as of August 2011, the number of remand prisoners who had been released as part of this programme numbered only 357, a number which dwarfs in comparison to the number of remand prisoners estimated throughout Ghana. Remand prisoners contribute to prison overcrowding and congestion and depletion of the nation�s scarce resources. More adequate systems to deal with remand prisoners would contribute to a vastly improved prison system. Furthermore, Ghana is a signatory to the UN Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (known as the �Tokyo Rules�), which state that governments should avoid detaining suspects prior to trial at all. And in the case that detention is necessary, international conventions dictate that a person is entitled to a trial within the shortest possible time, a rule that is echoed in Ghana�s own Constitution. Recommendations of UN Report: The recommendations of the UN Report tasked the Government of Ghana to ensure that no remand inmates remain in prison beyond the expiry of their warrants; ensure that all detained persons are guaranteed the possibility of challenging effectively and expeditiously the lawfulness of their detention; and review the lengthy judicial proceedings that lead to a substantial number of prisoners on remand being denied the right to a trial within a reasonable period. The Government should also ensure that time spent in remand custody is taken into account during sentencing and review sentencing policies to reduce or eliminate mandatory minimum sentences. The UN Report further urged Government to encourage NGOs to undertake regular monitoring of places of detention and deliver much-needed medical and educational services, as well as provide training for law enforcement, health and legal professionals on international human rights standards and on detecting, reporting and preventing torture and ill-treatment. Implementing some of the UN�s recommendations on prisoners and prison conditions would be a plus to the democratic credentials Ghana has already chalked globally. While commending human rights institutions, including the �Justice For All Programme� being championed by Centre for Human Rights and Civil Liberties with support from the Chief Justice and Attorney General, for playing a very significant role in the fight against the abuse of citizens� fundamental human rights, there is still more left to be done. There is the need, for instance, for more human rights advocacy institutions including human rights lawyers, civil society organizations and the media to join the crusade in the fight against the abuse of human rights generally, but even more so in the case of prisoners who from the point of view of the law, have been wrongfully incarcerated.