The delay in hearing fresh cases at the Lorengau District Court has forced the overcrowding at cells of the Police Station in Manus.
Provincial Police Commander, Chief Inspector David Yapu is now calling on the Magisterial Service to address this.
PPC Yapu said while police understand that the provincial magistrate is on leave, he is concerned about the overcrowding at the station cells.
The new police station in Manus was recently opened.
However, the cells are overcrowded with 45 detainees. From this 45, 20 are prisoners who need a magistrate to review their warrants and 25 are detainees with fresh cases.
At the moment, there are no magistrates available since the last week of December 2017 to hear cases.
The delay in processing these detainees has also affected normal police operations.
And PPC Yapu said the Provincial Magisterial Service needs to address this as it is already a breach of Human Rights.
