Prison upgrade

Plans are under way to close a Pursat provincial detention centre and replace it with a new facility built by a private company. Nguon Lay, director of the facility, said it would be located in Sampov Meas district’s Prey Oral village about 5 kilometres from the provincial town. He said the relocation would be made because the current location was too small, adding that the new site sits on 7 hectares of land and that the new prison would hold close to 700 detainees, more than doubling the current capacity of 250-300. “We don’t know when we will be able to move to our new place, however, Premier Hun Sen approved the proposal,” Nguon Lay said. Pon Chhen,  a coordinator with the rights group Licadho, said the new centre would be better because the old one held 5 to 7 detainees in the same room.