PB approves P4.5M budget to build 19 new cells in CPDRC

THE Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) will soon provide breathing spaces for its prisoners with the construction of 19 additional cells and the renovation of its infirmary after the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) approved a P4.5-million budget for the project.

PB Member Sun Shimura, who sponsored the appropriation measure, said the project will help decongest the overcrowded jail, which is now housing around 2,700 inmates, nearly double its capacity of 1,500 inmates.

According to Shimura, each additional cell can accommodate around 30 inmates, providing rooms for about 600 inmates. The renovation of the infirmary will also greatly help the inmates as it will provide comfortable accommodation for sick detainees.

CPDRC officer-in-charge Bobby Legaspi said portions of the quadrangle and the mess hall, which are both open spaces, will be used for the additional cells. Legaspi explained it would not be possible to build a new floor on the current structures as their engineering design is not made for more than two floors.

Legaspi assured that even with the construction of new cells in the quadrangle, the inmates will still have space to do their daily calisthenics. On Monday, the PB approved the resolution authorizing Gov. Hilario Davide III to enter into a contract with R.M. Mondares Construction for the supply of labor, materials and incidentals in the construction of additional cells for a total amount of P4,563,913.51.

The amount was lower than the approved budget of P4,796,540.47.

There is no timetable yet for the construction. Meanwhile, Legaspi said they have also asked the Department of Health to test the CPDRC inmates for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the wake of a report that over a hundred inmates of the Cebu City Jail tested positive of the virus.

Legaspi said the DOH is yet to secure funding to have the CPDRC inmates tested for HIV, but he hoped the test could be conducted in the next few months.