BY: FAYETTE C. RIÑEN
CEBU CITY, March 18 (PIA) –All 34 jail
facilities in Central Visayas under the management of the Bureau of Jail
Management and Penology (BJMP-7) face the perennial problem of
over-congestion as local government units are urged to donate
a one-hectare lot for the construction of new jail buildings.
Assistant regional director for
operations of the BJMP-7, Supt. Bartolome Sagadal made
this call as every year, inmate population per jail climbs between 10 to
20 percent which again underscores the dilemma of too much congestion.
“In Mandaue City Jail alone, the ideal
capacity is only 54 yet the total inmate population is 1,002. There is a congestion
rate of 1,741 percent.
In the Cebu City Jail, ideal number is
864 yet the total number of inmates reached 2,216 so there is a congestion rate
of 156 percent,” bared Sagadal adding the list goes on with the rest of the
jails where overcrowding is a common major problem.
Out of the 34 jail facilities in the
region, 16 are located in Cebu; 11 in Negros Oriental while Bohol has five
jails and only one in Siquijor.
Other two provincial jails in Cebu and
Negros Oriental are not within the jurisdiction of the BJMP7 but are rather
manned by the respective provincial governments of Cebu and NegOr.
According to the BJMP-7 official, only
the local governments of Ubay in Bohol and Argao in Cebu have heeded their plea
for a donated lot.
Sagadal said four jails are also
working on an expansion this year to accommodate more inmates. Three of these
jails are located in Cebu namely in the cities of Carcar and Danao and in
Medellin town while the other one is in Tanjay Negros Oriental.
Because of overcapacity, Sagadal said
health problems such as respiratory diseases would likely surface with
tuberculosis or TB as the top health issue. Skin problems would also likely
occur with the imminent summer period just like in the previous years, said
Sagadal.
“I told all jail wardens to coordinate
with the respective local government units to request that windows of jail
facilities be widened to allow more ventilation. Improving the ventilation is
also one way of addressing health problems,” said Sagadal.
Sagadal said it is very grateful to the
assistance of the Department of Health (DOH-7) which has constructed 14
separate isolated TB cells within 14 jails since 2010, on top of providing free
medications to inmates with TB.
“Our budget for health-related services
has also increased at P3.6 million per quarter,” said Sagadal adding that the
allocation of medicines per inmate has also slightly increased from P3 before
to P5.
Sagadal along with the Cebu Provincial
Detention and Rehabilitation Center and the DOH-7 were the guests of the weekly
forum of the Association of Government Information Officers (AGIO-7) this
morning that tackled the topic ‘State of Our Jail Facilities and Addressing the
Welfare of Inmates.’ (mbcn/FCR/PIA-7)