Riot was planned well: Prison chief

 By ELIAS LAR
THE riot at the Baisu prison in Western Highlands on Saturday was well planned by some professional people, Correctional Services Highlands regional commander Philip Eka says.
He said the riot could have been related to a planned breakout for which they had earlier received intelligence reports on at Baisu.
Eka said the prisoners could have chosen Saturday to escape.
“Assessing the damage caused to the jail, I can see that it was well engineered and planned. If the day of breakout was planned on Saturday, then our guys were smart enough to stop them,” Eka said.
He said the ring leader would be identified.
Eka estimated the damage caused to the prison at about K500,000.
“There are no cooking utensils, prison walls are broken and there is nothing in here. So we have to send them to other jails,” Eka said.
They are expecting to receive supplies of water pipes, cooking utensils and beddings from the CS headquarters in Port Moresby.
“Looking at the damage caused, I can say that this was well master-minded and engineered by professionals. An investigation will be conducted into this and we will identify the cause of it,” Eka said.
He said it showed that CS officers needed to increase security and be alert all the time.
Eka said a similar riot took place at Buimo jail in Morobe in the 1990s.