31 Mar 2004

American Samoa paper repeats claim of inmate beating

5:34 am on 31 March 2004

The families of a whistleblowing inmate in American Samoa's prison are alleging he is being kept locked up in a container without airconditioning in soaring temperatures, for leaking information to local media.

The newspaper, Samoa News, say it's the likely reason for the lockdown is because he spoke out about alleged misconduct at the Tafuna correctional facility.

Samoa News reported in January about an alleged beating of an inmate by a prison warden while handcuffed to a post.

A spokesperson for the newspaper stands by the accuracy of its story and has named the prison warden allegedly responsible for the beating.