The Director-General of the Prisons Service, Mr. William Kwadwo Asiedu, has expressed frustration at the large number of prisoners on remand.

Prisons statistics show that 29 per cent out of a total prison population of about 13,000 are on remand.

Mr. Asiedu says though he has submitted a list of prisoners to the Attorney General's Department for redress, action is yet to be taken on the remand prisoners.

He says he is hopeful that a prison complex at Ankoful in the Central region will be completed by the end of this year to reduce congestion.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Democratic Development CDD has warned of looming crisis in the management of the country's prisons if immediate steps are not taken to reduce the number of people on remand.

The Governance and Legal Policy Officer at CDD, Mr. Kojo Asante, said a first step in dealing with the problem is to seek a proper interpretation of the 1992 constitution on the rights of accused persons.

He said “Article 14 (3) which basically protects a citizen’s personal liberty states that if a person errs they have to be brought before court within 48 hours. Now the constitution then offers some sort of proviso that it has to be done within a reasonable time period else that person would have to be released… So that is the loop hole that has created this bunch of remand prisoners. ”

Mr. Asante said the court must be allowed to define the clause “reasonable.”

He said if the issue is not dealt with in time the situation would blow out of proportion.