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Gov’t. told to hasten repair of corrections • Court agrees to stay incarceration of 25 to 30 convicts due to inhumane jail condition
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Posted on Jun 22 1999
Outgoing Chief Public Defender Harvey Palefsky is not leaving his post without making his final appeal for the government to fix the jail.
“The condition of our jail facilities violate the rights of those incarcerated, ” said Palefsky, who is stepping out of the Public Defender’s office today.
Last February the US and CNMI governments signed a consent degree in which local and federal officials agreed to address the poor condition of the Susupe jail, which former Chief Public Defender Dan DeRienzo had referred to as “medieval dungeon.”
The demand for improving the local prison has been the Public Defender Office’s crusade. Upon its motion, the court has agreed to stay the incarceration of between 25 and 30 convicted defendants pending resolution of the jail complaint.
Superior Court Associate Judge Timothy Bellas, who was assigned to hear the case, was scheduled yesterday to inspect the facilities.
“This is an ongoing issue. We’re concerned about the safety and well being of our clients,” Palefsky said in an interview with reporters.
Palefsky said he is worried the government might not meet the October deadline set by the federal government.
The consent decree, signed between US Atty. General Janet Reno and the CNMI officials headed by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, was a result of a complaint that the local government has failed to provide inmates with adequate supervision, security, medical, and mental health care. The inmates are not classified accordingly. Those with behavioral problems and communicable diseases are allowed to mingle with healthy inmates.
“The courts should not be sending people there,” Palefsky said.
