Mount Hagen resident Judge, Justice Godwin Poole, inspected the Banz Police cell-block in Jiwaka Province on Monday.
He visited it to see for himself what the police cell looks like for the purpose of his Commission of Inquiry into the condemnation of the cell-block.
Justice Poole told the Provincial Police Commander, Joseph Tondop, that his concern is about the cell-block being ignored by relevant authorities.
Today, Justice Poole traveled from Mt Hagen to the Banz cell-block in Jiwaka Province.
Upon his arrival, he inspected the police cell to see that state of the building, and to understand how the police station operated in a deteriorated building.
The Banz police cell-block was built before Papua New Guinea obtained Independence in 1975.
In 2002, it was condemned by the health inspectors, due to no water supply into the cell-block and the police station.
Since then, the cell-block was still in use until this year.
Justice Poole had found out about the condemnation, when a criminal matter involving a death of a detainee at Banz police cell was brought to him at Mt Hagen National Court.
He created a Commission of Inquiry to find out more about Banz cell-block, and why it was never looked into by the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and the past successive governments.
He was assisted by RPNGC, public solicitor’s office, and the public prosecutor’s office, including the Provincial administrators of Western Highlands and Jiwaka, and the health authorities.
