CHIEF Prosecutor John Bradley on Tuesday expressed support for House Bill 22-7, which will “further protect” the Department of Corrections from a variety of prison contraband.
Authored by Rep. John Paul Sablan, the bill will provide “clarity relative to the crime of promoting prison contraband.”
It expands the list of things defined as contraband and major contraband. Aside from firearms or any deadly weapon, drugs and paraphernalia, the measure also defines as contraband “any authorized property that has been altered.”
The bill states that the CNMI’s existing law on prison contraband is “quite antiquated, and does not account for the current needs of the Department of Corrections to properly secure its facilities.”
Hence, the law should be clarified to properly define items that are prohibited and impose the appropriate penalties.
The House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee, chaired by Rep. Celina Babauta, held a closed-door meeting with Corrections Commissioner Wally Villagomez to discuss H.B. 22-7.
Besides Babauta, the committee members who attended the meeting were Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, Reps. Edwin Propst, Tina Sablan, Richard Lizama, Vicente Camacho, Denita Yangetmai and Donald Manglona.
Bradley thanked the committee for giving him the opportunity to comment on the legislation.
He said he is aware of “the difficulties that you face in trying to accomplish something that requires a lot of diplomacy and delicate considerations.”
He said the bill, as written now, “is a tremendous step forward.”
“Our office certainly supports it and recommends its passage,” he added.
He said the difficulty is in providing some flexibility in the definition of contraband — “because I’ll tell you, inmates are creative.”
There were times in the past when the government had a difficult time trying to prosecute an offense as a felony, and ended up prosecuting it as a misdemeanor.
There had been discussions regarding the definition of contraband, which could be too broad or too vague, he said.
Including an authorized property that has been altered for unlawful purpose in the definition of contraband will help clarify the definition, he added.
John Bradley
