All prisoners who have been sentenced by the court should be treated the same, says Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika today.
Sir Gibbs said this in court after the Bomana Jail Commander, Haraha Kiddy Keko, appeared before him to explain why certain prisoners were granted extended leave of absence periods and were serving the terms in hospitals and in tertiary institutions.
“Many people will regard this as unfair. The little people are serving time while the big people are doing that. Any prisoner should be treated the same. There is no special provision under law,” said Sir Gibbs.
“The law sees everybody as equal. There is also a present trend that leaders who are charged go and see the commissioner first.
“Everyone should be treated the same, whether you are an MP or a judge of the court,” the Deputy Chief Justice said.
The court is also aware of a cabinet decision to probe the prisoners’ leaves of absence procedure, which was announced last week.
Sir Gibbs said the court is not a party to that and wants to avoid duplicity of an inquiry.
He encouraged the prison management to assist the government in its enquiry and highlight any issues they are facing for improvements to be made around jails in the country.
The matter for the wide enquiry, which the Cabinet will look into, includes the involvement of doctors. The court only wanted to know why prisoners were not serving their terms at Bomana.
“I simply raised this issue as a matter of concern and interest as to why these prisoners are getting these kind of treatment and not the others,” Sir Gibbs said.
Commander Keko today appeared on summon direction of the court last week to explain why the prisoners concerned were not serving their sentence at Bomana, which amounts to “almost being in contempt of court” because orders of the court are not being adhered to.
Prisoners in question include Maraga Arua, Eremas Wartoto, Paul Pisa, Jeffery Yokopia, Philip Kikala, Paul Tiensten and Dr Theo Yasause.
He told the court all the prisoners who were released on leave of absence to the Port Moresby General Hospital, Gerehu hospital and Pacific International Hospital, have returned to prison on 10 January 2018.
He said the prisoners were sent to the hospital for their wellbeing.
Tiensten and Dr Yasause were processed by Correctional Service administration and granted leave to study.
Dr Yasause is studying IT at the International Training Institute while Tiensten is studying law at the University of Papua New Guinea.
But the Deputy Chief Justice said once a person has a conviction, it will be hard to pursue a career in law.
“That’s not allowed under the profession, we already have precedence for that. He can use it for other careers but to practice law, that’s it, finished,” he said.