AS EXPECTED, congestion at the City Jail in Barangay Lumbia has worsened with the ongoing war on drugs.
Jail Superintendent Nestor Caber said it has gotten so bad that the jail management now has to implement shifting in inmates’ sleeping times and utilize even the facility’s chapel to accommodate all the inmates.
"We are now even allowing the inmates to sleep in the chapel because if not, where else would we put them?" Caber added.
Caber said from June 30 to August 26, the number of inmates at the jail has risen by 584 percent, bringing the total number of inmates for the jail built for 253 people at 1,801.
Caber said he sees the congestion to get worse in the coming days as more inmates are reportedly coming in than being released.
Inmates with drug related cases constitute the largest number in the population with 1,237 inmates or 68 percent of the entire population.
This number is expected to increase, Curato said.
Curato said Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) officials have had to adjust security measures to deal with the increase in prison population.
"What we are allowed so far to say about the security measures is that the personnel of the jail are reminded to be in constant alert because inevitably, the inmates are put in too close a distance to one another,” Caber said.
Caber said jail officials have had to resort to tightening security on visiting relatives as jail officials have to be stricter on who goes in and out of the facility.
But, Caber said, they have been unable to mount prison shakedowns to confiscate contraband inside the prison cells for lack of personnel.
The last surprise inspection of the different cells was on January 22.
Caber said, however, that security personnel of the jail are still able to control the inmates.
The jail management is also building five more cells to accommodate more inmates.