Mentally unsound inmates sent to Laloki

By ELIZABETH VUVU
TWO prisoners from the Kavieng Correctional Service institution in New Ireland have been medically confirmed with mental illness and will be sent to the Laloki Mental Health Centre in Port Moresby.
Jail commander, Francis Gahuye said this was the second time that inmates from the institution were being detected with mental illness and sent to Laloki. The first time was in 2002 and included two middle-aged men who were also sent to Laloki for treatment and returned and have since been released from prison.
He said warders had been noticing that the current two middle aged men from Mussau Island were doing things that were not normal like eating any objects not fit to consume by humans, drinking their own urine, talking nonsense and frequently starting fights with other inmates.
The institution requested for a medical officer, who tested the two and revealed that they needed to be sent to Laloki for treatment.
Mr Gahuye said they were just waiting for the Correctional Service headquarters in Port Moresby to make funds available so airline tickets could be purchased for the two to travel. Mr Gahuye said from the experience of the past two inmates and the two current ones now, they noticed that the inmates suffering from mental illness were those that had been jailed for committing murder.
He said it was a possible that these prisoners frequently thought about the murder they had committed causing them to lose their mind.