13 Apr 2012

US helps Guam pay for immigrant inmates

2:45 pm on 13 April 2012

The US Department of the Interior has given Guam 3.5 million US dollars to offset the cost of providing inmate housing for migrants from the Freely Associated States.

The Pacific Daily News reports that 26 percent of Guam's prison population is from Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Guam's Governor Eddie Calvo says it cost six million dollars last year to feed immigrant prisoners.

The Governor had been pressing the Department to address the strain on Guam's social services caused by regional migrants who make up about 18 percent of Guam's population.

The Interior Department says the funding will assist the Department of Corrections in giving housing, medical treatment, daily meals and transportation for prisoners.