Ingram explores options for jail

Public Safety Commissioner Charles Ingram is looking at available jail space outside of the Commonwealth as one contingency plan to address the continued delay in the construction of the new correctional facility.

Although, it would mean additional cost, he said the Department of Public Safety should be ready to assume the worst scenario.

In an interview, he expressed concerns over the issues surrounding the jail project while the Federal government has been asking CNMI officials to fix the local prison.

“What if the federal government comes down and says you failed to comply and we are going to stop your operation. We can’t just let prisoners go,” he said.

While officials are bickering over the CIP projects, the Public Defender’s office is also making noise about police brutality and concerns directed to poor prison condition. After handling the case of Francis Eugenio, public defender Masood Karimipour has been talking about police brutality.

Ingram doesn’t want to comment on this allegation but he expects that such reports will reach federal officials and DPS should explore available options.

“We don’t want the convicted to go free or house them in hotels,” he said, adding “we have to farm them out and send them to the mainland.”

The commissioner has checked with the internet on the availability of space at correctional facilities in the mainland. Other states are also dealing with over crowding and Guam does not have space for prisoners coming from the CNMI.

According to Ingram, the cost for each prisoner is estimated at $50 daily. Other states will probably charge the CNMI government around $60 each day.