Prison escapes blamed on officers’ neglect

VANIMO prison is one of two prisons that have not recorded any escapes this year, says Correctional Services Commissioner Stephen Pokanis.
Pokanis made this comment when asked about the number of escapees at large.
The other, he said, was Buka.
Pokanis said that the Department of Corrections Services had recorded the escape of 141 detainees from all of the 19 operational prison facilities around the country for this year alone.
“Out of the 141 escapees, 22 had been recaptured which brings the number back down to 119,” he said.
“However, the recent escapes from Madang’s Beon (22) and Eastern Highlands’ Bundaira (7) bring the number back up to 148.”
Pokanis attributed a lot of the escapes to officers neglecting their duty and said that one of the reasons they were not doing their jobs well was that “there was no consistency in competency building”.
“It’s been 24 to 25 years since we had proper competency building trainings, and the reason is that we have no funds for it,” he said.
“Our competency standard used to be very high.”
Pokanis also noted that disciplinary action against officers for neglect of duty did not help, nor did dismissing officers.