‘New jail building will curb drug link’
To decongest the Cebu City Jail (CCJ), an P85-million building will be built there in the next two years.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) 7 officials headed the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday.
“Our primary concern is that our city jail--well, all the jails--are used as the distribution centers of drugs, and the procedure is that the criminal will recruit. And that is why we have to take additional steps to isolate the big drug lords and the ones used to run the drugs,” Osmeña said.
He highlighted reports that the jail was made into distribu- tion area for illegal drugs, and said that the City Government is thinking of installing signal jammers in the facility.
“We’re working on installing signal jammers so that no one can use their cellphones, including you ( jail officers). If there’s a sudden signal, then we’ll know that it’s being compromised,” the mayor said.
Osmeña also said that they are mulling to return the food subsidy to the CCJ after seeing an improvement in the jail management.
Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, deputy mayor for peace and order, said they will be working on placing a landline phone for the inmates’ use.
“With the landline phone, they can call their loved ones, but there is also a schedule,” he said.
The structure will be built by Duros Development Corp. and will consist of three four-story buildings that will have an atrium for ventilation for the inmates.
The BJMP national headquarters will shoulder the cost.
The CCJ houses 4, 973 inmates, well beyond the capacity it was built for.
“With the construction of the new building, from an 800-percent congestion rate, it will be reduced to 300 percent,” Jail Director Deogracias Tapayan, chief of the BJMP national headquarters, said.
The additional facility is set to be completed within two years and a month, and can accommodate 550 inmates.
It will occupy at least 700 square meters inside the male dormitory. /