10:00 AM
Four women are still on the run in Western Highlands Province, in what has been quite possibly one of the first ever escapes by female prisoners from jail in PNG.
Reports show that the four dug their way under the fence of the Baisu correctional facility just outside Mt Hagen early last month. Furthermore, efforts to apprehend them in the past month have been unsuccessful.
Although he refused to divulge any specific information regarding the matter, Baisu jail commander, Timbi Kagula, said that investigations into the escape have identified a number of individuals believed to have helped in the escape.
“The investigations have been completed and we are trying to charge some of the people implicated,” Kagula said.
It remains unclear at this stage as to exactly who these people are or what specific roles they may have played in the recent escape, but sources have confirmed that none of the escapees have yet been caught.
The escape is the first of reported escapes this year and has once again highlighted a number of recurring challenges that prisons around that country are facing.
The list includes ailing infrastructure and declining discipline in an organization that has been plagued by a chronic shortage of funding in recent years.
Attempts to contact Correctional Services hierarchy for comments on the matter last week were unsuccessful.
More on this story as it develops.