A senior member of the police service in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville has raised concerns that they do not have a proper prison facility.
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Bougainville police have a rehabilitation centre at Bekut which houses a maximum of 50 prisoners but it is overcrowded.
The local police head, Deputy Commissioner Francis Tokura, says said he was working with an Australian aid programmne on the refurbishment of holding cells in Buka, Arawa and Buin to accommodate more than its current capacity of 12 prisoners.
But Mr Tokura also called on both the national and the autonomous Bougainville governments to assist in building a major cell facility for the region.
He said although the care of prisoners was not the responsibility of police, the Correctional Service was not in a position to take care of them on Bougainville.
Mr Tokura said prisoners had certain rights and it was important to look after those in custody.
