Huy Hoeun, deputy director of the General Department of Prisons, addresses a meeting of Ministry of Interior officials on the subject of drugs in prisons on Thursday. Photo supplied
Prison guards on drugs, test finds
Mon, 29 February 2016
Mech Dara
Drug use in Cambodia’s prison system is not limited to inmates alone. Prison guards too have been found to be using illicit substances, senior prison officials have acknowledged, with the government set to launch an investigation into the prevalence of drug use among prison staff in rural areas.
Speaking during an annual meeting of the Ministry of Interior on Thursday, Huy Hoeun, deputy director general of prisons, said that Correctional Centre 4 (CC4) in Pursat province had recently carried out some blood testing of both prisoners and guards, and found traces of drugs in some staff members, as well as the inmates.
“It was not only prisoners but also prison officials, and it is not only in Correctional [Centre] 4, but also in other prisons – we have to acknowledge this,” he said.
Hoeun said that overcrowding in Cambodia’s prisons made it increasingly difficult to detect drug circulation.