Funding shortfall hurting efforts to review and rebuild Correctional Services

AN administrative investigation into the operation of the Correctional Services has been hindered by a lack of funding.
However, the investigation is continuing after it was restricted to the Bomana prison outside Port Moresby.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Davis Steven said yesterday that although a preliminary investigation report was submitted to his office, he was not satisfied with it and advised the team to concentrate on investigating the Bomana prison with the limited funding allocated to it.
The minister said although there were difficult issues with funding to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the CS establishments throughout the country, the administrative investigation was now confined to Bomana to identify, in his view, the cultural change of the organisation.
Steven said there were systematic cultural deficiencies within the services and the investigation was being carried out to actually identify those and how they ate into the systems and operations of the organisation.
“A preliminary report was submitted but I was not satisfied with the outcome of the preliminary findings, so I asked them to do a thorough investigation that is confined to the Bomana.,” he said.
“At the same time I want to announce the major review that is going on, a major legislative reform that we want to see the jail system modernised. This amendment will accompany the rebuilding of the
culture and the systems of the CS.
“Therefore, I have asked for the investigation because I want to know the deficiencies so it is factored and addressed in a holistic way. The important thing is that we are properly informed of the issues and one is the cultural change in the system and also in the command where there is a continuous change leading to the deficiencies.
“These results in the abuse in the systems such as leave of absence, which is a mandate of the CS commissioner.”
Steven said other issues were training to address the code of ethics and standards that were at their lowest.
He said the same was to be done to the police force which needed to be reformed to make it a vibrant, disciplined force.