Akuapem Poloo may spend only two months in jail – Prisons PRO

It has emerged that actress Rosemond Brown popularly known as Akuapem Poloo may spend only two months in prison.

According to the Chief Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Prisons Service, this will only happen in the event that the convicted actress puts up good behavior in custody.

Akuapem Poloo was last Friday handed a custodial sentence after she pleaded guilty for three charges including public of obscene materials involving her seven-year-old son by the Circuit Court in Accra.

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.

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

To this end, he said the convicted actress per the offence she was convicted of is qualified for the one-third remission if she put up a good attitude.

“There is what we called one-third remission and some offences that qualified 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.”

Asked by Naa Dedei if the 90-day jail term 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 the first-degree felony, so once it is not a first-degree felony, and it falls under misdemeanor, then the probability that you qualified for one-third remission is high.”

But, he was quick to assert that, “there is some that are earned on good conduct and service industry.”

Mr Atsem explained further that, “the officer in charge or the Director-General of Prisons has the right 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.”

On if Akuapem Poloo qualified, he said, “She can qualify for the one-third remission if she put up a good behavior.”

He added that, “going by that, means that she (Akuapem Poloo) will serve 60 days out of 90 days.”

“If you qualified for remission, a third of it is computed and deducted from your total sentence. A year is made up of 12 months, so 12 months would be calculated and a third of it would be deducted, so you do (serve) the remainder.”