MOA between Corrections and DOH pending

The Department of Health has yet to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Corrections regarding the airport hangar used as a Covid-19 quarantine facility.

This contradicts other media reports, says the Acting Director of the Department of Health Vesi Taleleli Fautanu, in an interview with KVZK.

Fautanu said they anticipate endorsing the MOA sometime this week to allow the facility to be used as temporary housing for juvenile delinquents.

He said the juvenile detention centre would be renovated with significant upgrades planned for the facility behind the Tafuna Correctional Facility.

Once the MOA is signed, the Department of Corrections will oversee repairs of the hangar to better suit its purpose of housing underaged boys and girls with pending cases before the court and the Department of human social services.

The said facility was used previously to house StarKist Samoa contract workers from Korea, free of charge, that were on the island to upgrade the cannery facilities; however, earlier this month, they were informed to leave the facility.