SENIOR Superintendent Joel Superficial, regional director of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-Western Visayas, urged all jail wardens to double their efforts in securing persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to avoid jail-related incidents.
Superficial, during his media interview in Bacolod City on Wednesday, acknowledged the need to improve the jail facilities in Western Visayas.
He cited the incident in Bago City District Jail last month that resulted to the death of an inmate after he got involved in a commotion with his fellow detainees. The incident resulted to the relief of the jail warden and three jail officers.
“Incidents inside the jails happen because of the limitations and insufficiency of equipment,” he said.
To prevent such from happening, Superficial said they need the help of stakeholders and local government units (LGUs) to implement the plan of building standard jail facilities.
He added that they are trying to tap the LGUs for lot donation as the BJMP will finance the construction of the facility.
He said the budget for Negros Occidental this year is about P80 million.
Superficial also said they are planning to acquire K9 dogs for jails to be used during inspection of visitors and to prevent the entry of contrabands, particularly illegal drugs.
Superficial said all jail personnel should double their accomplishments because they have no reason to get involved in irregularities and violate the bureau’s policies because of their salary increase.
“They should perform well or I’ll be harsh to them,” he warned.
Superficial said jail facilities in Western Visayas also lack jail guards due to the growing number of inmates.
The ideal jail guard to prisoner ratio would be one is to one, but the current ratio is one guard for every 50 inmates.
He said they are hoping to address the problem soon as the BJMP national headquarters already announced the hiring of about 1,000 personnel nationwide, of which 100 will be deployed to Western Visayas. (with reports from TDE)
