Cell closure affecting prison

Madang’s Jomba police cell closure has affected food supplies to Beon prison, says Correctional Services commander Andrew Polis.
Polis said the condemnation of the Jomba cell had allowed police to send suspects straight to Beon from the courthouse to wait for further hearings.
He said the additional daily numbers had increased the number of inmates budgeted to benefit from a month’s ration.
He said food supplies ran short before the month ended and that was a challenge he was now facing.
Polis said the holding capacity of the prison was between 150 and 200 but since the sentencing of 87 men from Raicoast for life and seven on death row, the number increased to beyond 400.
“But when police bring in additional numbers because of the Jomba cell closure, I have no choice but to accept and adjust,” he said.
“Sometimes the number increases to 500 and then drops when some suspects are released from the courthouse.”
He said documents had been processed to send the seven men on death row from Naho Rawa Local Level Government (LLG) in Raicoast to Bomana but their travel was delayed because of funding difficulties.
However, Polis said the 87 who were sentenced to life years and those on death row had lodged their appeals in the Supreme Court.
He said they would remain at Beon prison while the Supreme Court hearing was heard.
Meanwhile, the Beon CS paid nearly K200,000 to two contractors yesterday to build houses for CIS officers.