by Nick Delgado

Guam - Plans to construct a new prison facility on Guam have hit a snag. No surprise here: the reason: GovGuam's financial shortfalls. DepCor spokesperson Lt. Antone Aguon says the new facility would be a big project that DOC must take on to resolve its overcrowding issues. He says aside from waiting on legislation to build the new prison, he admits that any plans for a new correctional facility would at a minimum take at least another five years to complete.

He told KUAM News, "The way the facility lays out requires us to have more than two dozen officers on duty at any given time that's one of our challenges not to mention the maintenance cost, because the prison is so old things like water leaks, air cons, the infrastructure old and dilapidated it's costing us a lot of money just trying to keep it repaired."

Aguon says that the governor, lieutenant governor, and even public safety oversight chair Senator Adolpho Palacios are committed to getting a new prison built, however for now he says they have to work with what they have.