Inmates’ welfare

We don’t know when the regional Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG-7) will disclose the results of their inspection of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) and their recommendation to Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno.

But it’s not hard to imagine the local DILG officials telling Sueno that the CPDRC is either badly in need of a major overhaul or that he should dismantle the facility altogether and build a new one preferably far from urban centers and communities and remote enough not to be accessible to anyone especially syndicates.

Anyway, after the public outrage over the strip search of inmates, the CPDRC also has to watch out for the continuing flow of drugs in and out of the provincial jail purportedly courtesy of its major drug lord Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro, who will now be transferred to a regular cell near the signal jammers to prevent him from communicating with the outside world, i.e., his drug connections in his home of Danao City and elsewhere in Cebu.

There were talks that Alvaro was being considered by the inmates themselves as a “deputy mayor” of sorts at the CPDRC with the transfer of its “mayor of mayors” or “bosyo” Lito Granada to Muntinlupa.

This development merely shows to the public exactly how organized these inmates are and how they had grouped themselves into their own society behind bars with their own rules.

That would explain in part the necessity to enforce strict inspections of the inmates to uncover whatever contraband they had in their possession aside from drugs and money and maybe how the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) would justify their decision to conduct a strip search of the inmates.

The timing of the DILG team’s inspection is also meant to double-check on the welfare of the inmates, who don’t exactly look none the worse for wear since their continued detention is by no means a picnic.

Regardless of who gets to be the head of the inmates, the provincial government has its hands full not only with keeping the inmates in check but also to make sure that nothing illegal happens there.

At the same time, the facility is in a state of disrepair that it doesn’t take too much for the inmates to be willing to do anything illegal if only to make their lives behind bars a bit more bearable.

True, most of them are convicted criminals, but not all of them are hardened to the point that they are unwilling or unable to reform and change their lives for the better.

The public outrage over the strip search of the inmates shows that there are still people who believe that even convicted criminals should be given some dignity.

That they have leaders of their own shows that they are not averse to order and discipline even among their ranks. One only hopes that whatever changes will be instituted will be for their betterment.