One hundred prisoners from Prey Sar’s Correctional Centre 1 (CC1) were transferred to Pursat’s Correctional Centre 4 (CC4) on Saturday to limit overcrowding as the Kingdom readies for a potential second round of an anti-drug campaign that has so far seen more than 9,000 arrests.

General Department of Prisons spokesman Som Keo said CC1 currently holds between 5,000 and 5,500 prisoners.

The Pursat facility, which is still under construction, held 197 prisoners before the transfer, said CC4 chief Ouk Kim Chun, who added the prison can currently accommodate up to 1,000 prisoners.

“There will be more transferred to here because prisons in other provinces are crowded,” he said.

Kim Chun said that the prison will have space for many more inmates once construction is finished. “There will be eight buildings, each with two cells, up and down,” said Kim Chun. “Each cell will be able to accommodate up to 200 detainees.”

Pursat-based Licadho prison project researcher Mit Samourn, whose organisation has expressed concern about prison crowding, agreed that the Pursat facility would be able to accommodate 100 more prisoners.