General News of Tuesday, 20 April 2021

Source: starrfm.com.gh

Poloo will serve 60 days in jail if she behaves well – Prisons PRO

Actress Akuapem Poloo Actress Akuapem Poloo

Convicted actress Rosemond Brown popularly known as Akuapem Poloo will serve 60 days of her 90-day prison term if she behaves well in jail, PRO of the Prisons Service has said.

Akuapem Poloo was last Friday handed a custodial sentence after she pleaded guilty for three charges including publishing of obscene materials involving her seven-year-old.

However, her lawyer has since filed a notice of appeal and an application for bail pending appeal which is expected to be heard on Wednesday by the High Court.

Speaking to Naa Dedei Tetteh on Starr Today Monday, Chief Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Prisons Service Courage Atsem said persons convicted for non-first degree felony offences are qualified for what he described as one-third remission sentence.

“There is what we call one-third remission and some offences that qualify one to be given one-third remission of the sentence. What this means is that, if your offence is the type that qualifies you to be given one-third remission then your total sentence is computed and a third of it is deducted and you do the two-third. So, for instance, if you say three months, then quickly if you do the calculator, one-third of it would be a month out of three months. So, it means that if your offence is the type that qualifies you to be granted one-third remission then you will be doing two-thirds of the total sentence of what you referred to as the prisons calenders.”

When asked if the 90 days jail terms handed to Akuapem Poloo qualified her for the one-third remission, the PRO said “the point is those offences that do not attract one-third remission are what we term as first-degree felony, so once it is not a first-degree felony, and it falls under misdemeanour, then the probability that you qualified for one-third remission is high.”

He however noted, “there is some that is earned on good conduct and service industry.”



Mr Atsem explained further that, “the officer in charge or the Director-General of Prisons has the rights to withhold that remission that you are entitled to if you do not conduct yourself properly or you do not show service industry while in custody.”

“She can qualify for the one-third remission if she puts up a good behaviour. Going by that means that she (Akuapem Poloo) will serve 60 days out of 90 days.”