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Twenty-five inmates of the Nsawam Medium Security Prison have been discharged under the Justice For All (J4A) programme. At its hearing at the Nsawam Prison yesterday, during which 87 cases were called for hearing, 48 other inmates were granted bail, while three had their cases adjourned, with the rest being dismissed. Some of the inmates had been on remand for at least five years. The exercise, funded by the British High Commission, is designed to decongest prison facilities across the country by freeing prisoners on remand who have been incarcerated for at least five years. The J4A programme is also designed to ensure the speedy disposal of cases at the courts. The annual exercise was jointly put together by the Judicial Service of Ghana (JUSAG), the Attorney-General�s (A-G�s) Department, the Centre for Human Rights and Civil Liberties (CHURCIL), the Ghana Prisons Service and the Ghana Police Service. The cases that were handled included stealing, robbery, drug-related cases, murder, child abduction and narcotics. Importance of the programme Briefing the Daily Graphic on the importance of the programme, the West Africa Head of Migration Policy at the British High Commission, Mr Charanpreet Singh Walia, said it was necessary, since most of the prisons in Ghana were overcrowded. To help resolve the situation, he said the British government thought it wise to carry out the exercise for the swift administration of justice, especially cases involving inmates who had been in custody for at least five years. According to him, the programme was part of a half-a-million pound project that the UK government was carrying out in Ghana. Mr Walia said similar activities would be carried out at the Sunyani Prisons in the Brong Ahafo Region on August 7 and 8, 2014 with subsequent ones in the rest of the regions later in the year. He added that similar projects were being carried out in other West African countries. Asked if the UK government had put in place any measures to help those discharged, he said that was the responsibility of the Ghana government.