Parole officer unhappy over Yali’s release

A PAROLE officer from the Highlands is not happy with the way the parole release of convicted rapist James Yali was handled.
The officer, who requested anonymity, said Yali’s parole release could spark unrests within all the country’s jails among prisoners whose parole applications were denied.
He called on the executive director of the Community-Based Corrections (CBC) to come forward and explain how the endorsement of Yali’s parole application was conducted.
“What we are afraid of is that if a Member of Parliament who is a rapist can be given parole ahead of his term, than what is to stop every other rapist in prison from wanting that too?
“Some prisoners with serious sexual crimes are still on remand and not on parole, so how come Yali is out already?” he questioned.
As a parole officer, he said his job was to ensure that the prisoner’s reasons for a parole application were genuine before submitting them to the parole clerk.
The application is then endorsed by the CBC executive director and then passed on to the Parole Board to decide if the application is granted or denied.
With the release of Yali also on medical grounds, he said many of these prisoners will now be using that reason for hopes of a quick release.
Kenei Gumaru,from Rai Coast, has also called on relevant bodies to investigate Yali’s early release, adding that the release was very suspicious in light of all the politicking that was going on.
He said in two months, the Rai Coast electorate would be going through another by-election and this, compounded with Yali’s release, demanded an investigation.
Mr Gumaru said the people of Rai Coast and Madang had suffered enough from Yali’s hands and the Government had also spent millions of kina in conducting by-elections that it was time people saw Yali as a prisoner and stopped having anything to do with him.
“We have suffered enough. We need leaders who are honest, have integrity and do not have criminal backgrounds,” Mr Gumaru said.