The rights to food, health, fair and speedy trials of detainees and suspects on remand are grossly compromised in the Volta Region.
Mr. Joseph Nuertey, Volta Regional Director of the Commission on Human Rights And Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) made the observation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.
Mr. Nuertey's observation arose from an inspection of a number of prisons and police cells in the region by his outfit courtesy Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).
He said all the police cells were dangerously congested, unventilated and untidy.
Mr. Nuertey said the unhygienic and inhuman conditions in those prisons and police cells have given rise to high levels of skin and respiratory diseases among inmates.
He said two cells at Aflao Police Station for example which measured 2.7 meters by 2.7 meters each and meant for 10 inmates respectively were accommodating a total of 45 inmates.
"This means that there is not enough space for inmates to sit or lie down," he said.
Mr. Nuertey said none of the prisons and police cells visited had first aid boxes or nurses attached to them to attend to sick inmates.
He said the feeding of the inmates in police cells was no better as this depended on the goodwill of police investigators and the benevolence of friends and family members.
Mr. Nuertey said those in the Prisons were fed on a paltry 60 Ghana pesewas daily.
He said the situation of suspects was further compounded by the lukewarm approach by prosecutors towards the speedy trial of the suspects.
Mr. Nuertey therefore appealed to stakeholders in human rights to intensify their campaigns and education to rectify these anomalies and restore the dignity of suspects and prisoners in the country.
