Balthazar: 3,370 inmates at large

By PISAI GUMAR
MORE than 3,370 prisoners are still at large – after various breakouts from the country’s jails in the past 20 years, acting Commissioner for Correctional Services Martin Balthazar said.
Balthazar said between 1990 and 2000 alone, 2,227 detainees escaped, with 1,190 recaptured and 1,037 still at large.
From 2001 to 2011, there were 3,261 escapees reported and only 925 of those prisoners had been recaptured.
Balthazar and state minister Sai Sailon Beseso are concerned about the increasing number of prison break-outs.
“Containment of detainees is a priority but CS officers need to ask why huge numbers of detainees keep escaping,” Balthazar said.
He urged the officers to “get back to basics”, the theme for the regional commanders’ conference in progress at the Lae Melanesian Hotel.
“Our journey into Vision 2050 began in 1995 and not 2010. It’s a journey we need to re-plan. It’s 17 years on and 38 years to go before achieving the Vision,” Balthazar said.
He said the service “needs to know how to plan with the law and justice sector to help the community and society”.
“To achieve the Vision, it was divided into five capsules within five-year period. But we need to conceptualise the Vision.”
He said they had achieved some of the targets in the first capsule, which was from 2010-15 and they included the Correctional Services College and Bomana maximum unit, female detainees cell, staff houses and rural lock-ups. 
“However, we are yet to achieve the objective of containment due to many ‘yoyo’ commissioned commanders who could not  prove themselves,” Balthazar said.
Beseso said in 2012 budget, the service received K97.3 million in the recurrent budget and over K30 million in its development budget.
“The development component will expand into rural lock-ups, communication, infrastructure, assets, maintenance and refurbishment of staff houses,” he said.
He challenged the service, judiciary and police to use the money wisely and to deliver “competent and cost-effective programmes to reduce and eradicate crime for a crime-free society”.