Unidad Administrativa Financiera y Talento Humano

In another development, the African Commission on Human and Peoples‟ Rights adopted Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of action on Accelerating Prison and Penal Reform in Africa in 2002.²⁸⁶ The Ouagadougou Declaration recommends the following measures as forming part of a plan action to implementing the Declaration:

(a) The reduction of overcrowding in prison by the use of alternative to penal prosecution.

Accordingly, minor offences, offences involving young offenders and people with mental health or addiction problems should be handled through restorative justice as opposed to punishment. By this, the administration of criminal justice system is to adopt: the use of family group conferencing, victim offender mediation and sentencing circles. Nevertheless, in adopting the traditional justice system as a way of dealing with crime, the rights of the offenders, the victim of crime and the community are to be taken into account. The Declaration also urges the African states to improve referral mechanisms between the formal (state) justice system and the informal (non-state) justice system and as such decriminalise

285 African Commission on Human and Peoples‟ Rights‟ „Arusha Declaration on Good Prison Practice, 27^th February, 1999‟, <www.penalreform.org/.../arusha>, accessed on Saturday, 16^th January, 2016.

286African Commission on Human and Peoples‟ Rights, Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of action on Accelerating Prison and Penal Reform in Africa <www.achpr.org/.../ouagadougou> accessed on Saturday, 16^th January, 2016.

112 some of offences such as vagrancy, loitering, prostitution, failure to pay debts and disobedience to parents.²⁸⁷

The ways of achieving these recommendations are: by the co-operation between the police, the prison services and the courts to ensure that trials are speedily processed. The way to reducing long detention is through:

(i) regular meetings of caseload management committees including all criminal justice agents at the district, regional and national levels;

(ii) awarding costs against lawyers for unnecessary adjournments;

(iii) targeting cases of vulnerable groups.

The Declaration emphasises that detention of persons awaiting trial can only be used as a last resort and for the shortest time possible. On this note, African states are encouraged to:

(i) adopt caution and discharge as alternative to imprisonment in minor offences;

(ii) improved access to bail through widening police powers of bail and involving community representatives in the bail process;

(iii) restricting the time in police custody to 48 hours and setting time limit for trial of people on remand in prison custody;

(iv) ensuring good management of case files and regular review of the status of remand prisoners;

(v) involving greater use of paralegals in the criminal process to provide legal literacy, assistance and advice at a first aid level.²⁸⁸

The strategy for reducing the numbers of sentenced prisoners is by setting a target for reducing the prison population. This can be achieved through the use of proven effective alternatives to imprisonment such as community service, suspended sentence, probation and

287 The Plan of Action to Ouagadougou Declaration.

288 Ibid.

113 correctional supervision. This will pave the way for the imposition of sentences of imprisonment as a last resort only for the most serious offences and when no other sentence is appropriate. It is also important to consider prison capacity when taking decisions to imprison and the length and terms of imprisonment. In the same vein, there should be a review and monitoring of sentencing practice to ensure consistency. However, the powers of courts should be increased to review decisions to imprison, with a view to substituting community services in place of prison.²⁸⁹

(b)The Declaration also made recommendation on how to make African Prisons more self-sufficient through the adoption of measures such as: (i) the encouragement of prison agriculture, workshop and staff training; (ii) the development of appropriate technology to reduce costs (example: use of stoves) (iii) promoting transparent management of prisons (iv) encouraging training courses and study visits for staff on the best practices in prisons management (v) the involvement of staff and prisoners in agricultural production and prison industries through the establishment of management committees.²⁹⁰

(c) It was also recommended that rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners should be promoted in the society through the development of programmes during the period of imprisonment or non-custodial sentence schemes. This can be done by ensuring that sentenced prisoners have access to the programmes. These programmes shall emphasise on literacy and skills training linked to employment opportunities. On this note, vocational training programmes should be certificated to national standards.²⁹¹

(d) The Declaration also recommends that the rule of law should apply in prison administration. On this note, the prison authority and government should ensure that prisons are governed by prison rules that are publicised and made known to prisoners and staff. They should review prison legislation in line with national constitutional guarantees and

289 Ibid.

290Ibid.

291 Ibid.

114 international human rights laws. African states are to encourage independent prison inspection mechanism including the national media and civic society groups. They should also ensure that staff are trained in the application of the relevant laws and international principles and rules governing the management of prisons and the respect for prisoners‟

rights.²⁹²

(e) On the fifth plan of action, the Declaration recommends that government should encourage best practice in prisons. On this note, it is recommended that the provisions of the Kampala Declaration on Prison Conditions in Africa 1996 be publicised by African states in their respective domains. The publication of the above document will pave the way to encouraging: adequate staffing of prisons, adoption of alternative sentencing in minor offences and reintegration of prisoners in the society after discharge from prisons.²⁹³

Finally, the plan of Action advises that prison administrators should be made to account for their abuses of prisoners‟ rights.²⁹⁴