President John Dramani Mahama has granted amnesty to 998 prisoners across the country in line with Article 72(1) of the 1992 Constitution.
The decision, according to a statement signed by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Member of Parliament, Spokesperson to the President, Minister for Government Communications, followed recommendations from the Prisons Service Council, made in consultation with the Council of State.
Out of a total of 1,014 convicts recommended for consideration, 998 were approved for release or sentence commutation.
The categories of beneficiaries include 787 first-time offenders, 87 inmates on death row whose sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment, and 51 prisoners serving life sentences whose terms have been reduced to 20 years.
Others are 33 inmates who are seriously ill, 36 convicts aged 70 years and above irrespective of their offences, two nursing mothers, and two inmates released on the basis of petitions submitted to the Presidency.
The exercise forms part of the government’s efforts to decongest prisons and address humanitarian concerns in the country’s correctional facilities.
Read statement below
