Yano said they pulled out three prisoners last week from the Subelek Farm because there is not enough manpower to sustain its operation.
Further, Yano said there is not enough funding to support the maintenance and operation of the farm.He said there should be funding and good planning in keeping the farm.Director Yano added that they are still managing the farm and will wait for the new Minister of Justice to address the issue.“It will not house prisoners for a while but we will continue to watch the farm until the new Minister comes in to decide the matter. I have assigned a police officer to do routine patrol check of the farm,” Yano said in an interview yesterday.There were ten prisoners who were housed at Subelek farm. Six of them were under 6 to 6 work release program.One of them was pardoned and the remaining three were moved back to Koror jail.Yano is hopeful that the farm issues will be resolved once the new Minister comes on board.He said Koror jail is crowded and its chapel has been converted into a cell to accommodate more inmates.Yano said a total of 80 inmates are currently housed in Koror jail.“Before we had a hundred prisoners. The number has decreased to about 80 when the President pardoned some of the prisoners,” Yano said.The Subelek farm serve as a rehabilitation site for well behaved and trusted prisoners. Prisoners at the farm were trained to cultivate food crops and raising of livestock and poultry.
