The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye, has directed all regional commanders of the service to take urgent steps to reduce overcrowding in remand cells.
This follows the deaths of two inmates in a police cell at Ashaiman, near Tema. The IGP has constituted a team tasked to ensure the enforcement of the directive.
Already, the decongestion exercise has started in Accra and Kumasi and is expected to be replicated throughout the country. The typical Ghanaian police cell had an in-built toilet facility, meaning inmates have to sleep with the stench from their excreta, a former convict related.
In Kumasi, two detainees are said to have died months ago at the Central Police Station cells but authorities ruled out suggestions of overcrowding. The Commander of the Kumasi Central Police, DSP Frank Abrokwah, said police units are under strict instructions to their intake of suspects remanded by the courts.
He said public perception that the Kumasi Central police cell is dangerous is borne out of the fact that some remand prisoners mingle with hardened criminals. DSP Abrokwah said the Kumasi Central Police cells are well catered for to ensure that inmates are in the best bill of health.
The metropolis is stepping up efforts to nib in the bud the rising incidence of criminal activities, the police boss indicated.
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