2nd inquiry into prison leave to start

By JACKLYN SIRIAS
CORRECTIONAL Services will establish a second investigation into the leave of absence (LOA) issue that will involve non-CS officers, says Commissioner Michael Waipo, pictured.
He told The National that the first internal investigation involving three senior CS officers to assess the LOA breach was expected to be completed before the end of this week.
“I have assigned assistant commissioner Southern Region Henry Wavik and two other officers to carry out the internal investigation in which they have gone into their second day now to assess what transpired in the LOA breach.”
Waipo said the investigation was for them to identify what had transpired, where their strengths and weaknesses were and the possible areas they could make improvements in,
Waipo said they started the process of engaging an independent body for the second investigation following a call by prisoners at the Bomana jail.
He said Correctional Service Minister and the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General prepared the initial submission for the investigation to take place.
He also rebutted claims made by the CS Employees Association that the LOA breach happened due to lack of proper government funding.
“That is a high-level claim as in the institution what we are concerned about is to try and understand what has gone wrong in terms of the application of law and what the responsible staff have done or have failed to do that instigated the situation to come about,” he said.
Waipo further elaborated on the concerns raised by jail commandants regarding rundown facilities that this was a concern for all jails in the country.
The issue of leave of absence for prisoners came about when a number of them escaped after given temporary freedom for sports. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill ordered a ban on LOAs.
He urged commandants to bring such concerns to his office for discussion and to refrain from talking about policy issues as their role was to manage the institutions.
He said they would have to rethink and utilise current facilities policies to prevent issues like jail breaks.
Waipo also commended provincial authorities and police for their assistance in capturing prisoners who had escaped from Kerevat jail in East New Britain.