During his presentation at the National Research Institution in Port Moresby yesterday, PNG CS Commissioner, Stephen Pokanis expressed two of the challenges currently present within the prison environment of the country.
- The shift in crime or offences; and
- The prison being a haven for criminals and syndicates to plan and operate from.
For the first challenge mentioned the Commissioner expressed that crimes committed in the recent years had varied from the nature of crimes committed in the past.
He explained that initially, the country has its own local people committing crimes such as stealing and killing.
“In prison today we got people with different interests, backgrounds and groups”, he said.
“From organized crimes within this country, to organized crimes outside of the country”, Pokanis added.
He elaborated by adding that there are traffickers in this country with links outside of the country.
Upon his explanation of the current situation, he expressed that while a prisoner is behind bars, there is also the risk of prisoners ganging alliance or associations that can lead to further illegal activities, even from the prisons.
“Especially with the use of mobile phones everywhere”, Pokanis said.
In his way forward towards the end of his speech, the Commissioner made suggestions to building institution for the prison facilities and Intelligence capacity for the CS officers in order to manage such brewing situations as this was a matter of national security.
