Balthazar happy with Boram effort

 By GABRIEL FITO

CORRECTIONAL Service Commissioner Martin Balthazar is satisfied with improvements at the Boram jail in East Sepik initiated by a new management which rescued the institution from near collapse last year.

“I am pleased that the station is now being polished up. I commend officers and the prisoners for delivering Boram from a jungle to cleanliness.

“I am personally here today to assess the institution since I posted Chief Insp Andrew Polis to take charge of the command late last year following complaints from the public in the province on prisoners roaming freely in town and bringing in contraband, abuse of drug and alcohol by prisoners and the run down state of the institution,” he said.

He reviewed the parade with Correctional Service Minister Jim Simatab last Thursday.

“In December last year, I sent deputy commissioner Michael Waipo to carry out an operation to clean the place up and restore command and control in this institution and today I am pleased to see that you have established stability.

“All prisoners who have been misbehaving have all been transferred out of Boram to jails in the highlands, Madang and Morobe. I learnt that the prisoners here are happy with the new management and I thank everyone for restoring law and order for people of East Sepik,” Balthazar said.

Polis said the institution was rundown when he took over but has worked hard in the past months to bring back its lost pride.

Governor Sir Michael Somare committed K200,000 for the maintenance of rundown houses at the institution.