The Fair Justice Initiative (FIJ) has held its first fundraiser at the Labadi Beach Hotel.
The event was to raise funds towards the work of the FJI.
Speaking at the event, Founder and Executive Director Sarah Femi Adetola noted that root cause of the problem which makes people estranged from their society after prison needs to be identified.
“We believe that prison should be about reform. This initiative is set to help those people who have been incarcerated. We believe that through programmes and deliberations with the law, we can achieve our goal”
Director for Public Prosecutions Mrs. Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, who was the guest of honor, spoke about the initiative.
“The Fair Justice Initiative is a worthy cause to support incarcerated individuals in Ghana. These are people who cannot speak for themselves so could use initiatives like the FJI. We applaud their work thus far and continue to support them,” she said.
The Fair Justice Initiative was founded by Sarah Mary Adetola (‘Femi’) not long after she qualified as a legal representative in Accra, Ghana.
It was started in 2017.
As part of their vision, the FJI has embarked on various reform programmes in Ghanaian prisons.
Some former inmates who were at the event shared their experiences with FJI
“We are very grateful to Femi and the FJI while we were in prison their programmes really helped us. They would bring us provisions and visit from time to time. When you are in prison sometimes nobody ever visits you.
“So when you have people who visit and are committed to helping you get a normal life, it’s great. To those inmates still in prison, we pray that God through the FJI helps them out soon.”
According to the World Prison Brief, 2018, Ghana’s prisons are severely overcrowded.
Fifteen thousand inmates are held in 43 institutions with an official capacity to hold 9,875.
Of these, 13.8% are those on remand, awaiting trial.
Court delays will often mean their case is not heard for several years; there is a struggle to deal with the backlog of cases complicated by critically poor record keeping.
By Edem Tutu|3news.com|Ghana