Antics up at the Tafa’igata university

Dear Editor,

Re: In support of the Commissioner 

Let me tell you another story from the street level grape vine spoken by people who was either actually present or reported to the law enforcements or provide Intels of what is, and is going on.

This is perhaps the greatest failure of government policy to date but is so far secluded, away from the prying eye of the media and the public in general. The Prison Service that’s recently being privatized. 

I had dinner just the other night with friends that live around the Seesee, Lepiu, Tafaigta and Aleisa area, and talked about rugby and the usual, and finally to the prison service when not by chance but because one of the inmates that was on the loose just recently crashed through their property being chased by some locals because he was on a crime spree while on his little walk about from the joint. 

What these guys were saying fascinates me on how corrupt the prison service is, and still angers me even if it was a few month back.

They say the prison is run by inmates instead of a law enforcing body.

A work detail of perhaps 40-50 inmates is supervised by 2 or 3 officers and the inmates make a fun fact by throwing the officers with green pawpaws for they (prison guards) would not retaliate because they are vastly outnumbered.

The inmates will just walk away to the shops or fetch some food from the nearby families at Aleisa and the guards are powerless to stop them.

Prisoners walking around those back roads of Aleisa is a normal thing for those people living out there. It’s an every day thing.

There is no leash on these menace to society, that we are made to believe are locked up when in fact they are free as a bird playing a made believe game with us, the community, sanctioned by the full hand of the law that is known as the Prison Service.

The other guy who lives in the back road of Tafaigata said he knows of only two families on that back road and yet the traffic there at night is likened on to a main street Apia, and at the middle of the night. He’s reported it to the prison service only to be given a ‘we’ll checked it out’ reply.

They are inmates going back to the joint after a short walk about for a day or two, or just simply a night out at night clubs with the full knowledge of the guards.

The popular saying among the guards to the inmates is, ‘if you know how to get out, know how to back in’. Meaning a bribe. Aumai sa’u mea pe’a e sau.

This guy was still talking..., the back of his family land which is quite secluded is a place used by the guards to bring women in, maybe women inmates, to drink beer and smoke marijuana in full uniform and on a government vehicle as well.

The rest you can figure it out yourself.

The two inmates whom have just being released back to the community, of palagi ancestry, are right back into dealing drugs this time even worse with the full knowledge of the guards because they (guards) are part of the network of drug dealings. The prison is a free for all if you can do the under the table thing. 

One of the prisoners is rumoured to have renovate the whole prison cell from his own money because he cannot use the prison toilets. Where is the money coming from if they are inmates? Is that any difficult to assume?

They are worse off now then when they went in because now they’ve recruited the law enforcements for a small fee as we’ve seen all too well from the movies.

The Mel Gibson movie ‘Get the Gringo’ is a true story of what’s at play at Tafaigata. Remember the inmate that was on the loose and ended up in Brisbane Australia.

What happened to that case?

A fantastic case for our hard working Ombudsman and chief prosecutor to look into if then want to be relevant.

I know the office of the Ombudsman is not into crime investigating but as an independent voice from politics for citizens to seek refuge, but his findings and the position he took with the police commissioner thrust that case right back to the court of public opinion, as one puts it, he personally authorized the alleged individual to take a lawsuit against the government when he’s apparently a known drug pusher in the street level.

Grapevine is, the prisoner in Australia case is been sweep under the carpet because the findings of the law in Australia is that this inmate was assisted by the prison guards all the way, and to save face, our authority is no longer in pursuit of the case because it’s an embarrassment to the government only a short while after the Lauititi case that made headlines with 60 Minutes Australia.

What have we become as a people? One leader puts it, ‘when the line of reason is erased from what’s right and wrong and replaced with normalcy’ that’s when we know that we’ve lost our soul as a people and as human beings.

 

Steve 

Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>