Why are there so many prison escapes?

CONTINUOUS jailbreaks within the last three months are not a coincidence, but authorities have turned a blind eye to the telltale signs of the age-long disorder plaguing the prison system.
The most recent one was at Lakiemata in Western New Britain where 39 inmates escaped while on their way to church.
From this number, three are reported dead.
Last week, three escaped from Beon in Madang – two were on death row while the other was serving a life sentence.
In September, Parliament was briefed that 78 prisoners had escaped this year, of which, only three were recaptured while the rest remained at large.
And since 2016, 669 prisoners have escaped with only 123 recaptured, leaving 546 still at large.
The population of remands in CS totalled 3424 and the convicted stood at 2021, bringing the total number of inmates to 5445 in June this year.
Jailbreaks are inevitable when people who had a brush with the law are kept in prison awaiting trial in perpetuity. You lock up somebody who is presumed innocent for years and there is no talk about a trial and you’re not given any information, it’s natural for people to become violent in such a situation. People are stressed.
Acting Correctional Services Commissioner Steven Pokanis warned prison commanders and officers that they will face disciplinary action if there are any more breakouts.
Commanders were directed last month to stop escapes or be replaced. One thing for certain is that the successive jailbreaks were a product of the deep rot in the prison system begging to be addressed.
Sacking of any officials relating to jailbreaks can be seen as only a face-saving or superficial effort, which would not be enough to fix the inherent problems in the prison system. Problems range from mostly under-funding, overcrowded cells, maybe shortage of prison vans to take inmates to court for trial, poorly paid and unmotivated prison officials, to mention but a few. It is true that our prisons have, over the years, been a source of concern due to overcrowding, understaffing, lack of adequate medical care, inadequate provisions for female and juvenile detainees, poor administration, long detention of those awaiting trial and limited access to legal advice and representation.
These have frequently led to poor health conditions including frequent jailbreaks.
It seems the prisons have become disciplinary centres rather than being reform schools, where persons who come in conflict with the law are sent for reformation and eventually move back into society as better persons.
It is a failure of the entire justice system not to respect people who come in conflict with the law, not to recognise that they are presumed innocent and to treat their cases expeditiously.
The majority of persons in prisons are remand prisoners.
It is not unnatural for a prisoner who feels hopeless and dehumanised to resort to escaping, especially because the system that is supposed to rehabilitate them has rather broken their spirit.
The successive jailbreaks recorded in recent times should be a wake-up call for the government to address the problems with the nation’s prisons.