1260 Prisoners granted amnesty

President John Agyekum Kufuor has granted amnesty to 1,203 prisoners on humanitarian grounds in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of independence, the Minister of the Interior Albert Kan-Dapaah said in a statement on Monday.

The statement said 1,150 first offenders who had served half or more of their sentences were to be released outright.

Eleven 11 prisoners who were seriously ill and incapacitated and would not pose any threat to society, three aged prisoners who were over 70 years of age and weak and would not constitute any threat to society and, two nursing mothers who had had a character change and one prisoner serving the President's Pleasure were also to be released outright, the statement said.

It said 36 on death row had their sentences commuted to life sentence while three prisoners on life sentence had their sentences commuted to a definite term of 20 years.