The police holding cells in Manus have been crowded since the start of the New Year because there have been no District Court sittings in the province.
Provincial police commander, Chief Inspector David Yapu, is now raising concerns over the number of detainees and remandees in the new police station building.
Currently there are 45 detainees and remandees in the police cells.
Yapu, who spoke to this newsroom, said the new police station has separate holding cells for male, female and juvenile detainees but the 45 is a lot.
“We want to keep a small number of detainees at one time at the cells,” he said.
25 of those are detainees who were recently arrested and charged but are yet to appear in court for arraignment.
20 of them are remandees who should be in Correctional Service custody, awaiting their case in court. Those 20 remandees’ warrants have expired thus they need to appear in court before they go back to CS custody.
“There is no magistrate to renew their warrants to get them back to CS,” he said.
He stated that special District Court sittings were held prior to the New Year for those fresh cases and arrests police carried out however, there has been no sitting since the new year.
“We have communicated with the Magisterial Services here in Manus but we are in suspense on the position of magistrate to deal with those cases to clear them up,” Yapu said.
PPC Yapu said the current senior provincial magistrate is on leave and there is no relief magistrate to deal with the prisoners’ cases in court.
“Those prisoners have been denied their constitutional rights to seek justice and fair trial within a reasonable time and it’s a total violation of their human rights,” said Yapu.
“Our police cells are overcrowding and we cannot take or allow anymore prisoners into our cells. This is a serious breach of human rights and authorities concerned must promptly address the issue to allow the criminal justice administration system to flow smoothly,” Yapu added.