Cebu City Jail in dire need of masks, protective gears

Cebu City Jail |CDN photo/ Lito Tecson

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Personnel and inmates in the Cebu City Jail need protective gear such as surgical masks and face shields as the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases there continues to rise.

Jail Senior Inspector, Dr. Jay Ylanan of the Bureau Jail Management and Penology in Central Visayas (BJMP – 7), told reporters on April 23, 2020, that surgical masks and face shields would help their efforts in containing the virus in the jail.

“We’re hoping there will be continued support coming from the families, relatives of our inmates to help us in our diminishing supply of PPE (personal protective equipment) for our inmates,” Ylanan said in Cebuano.

He added that implementing strict social distancing within the facility could be difficult due to its congestion, prompting them to ask inmates to wear masks and do frequent hand washing.

COVID-19 has infected 129 persons inside the penal facility located in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City. 13 of these were identified as jail personnel while the rest are prisoners.

There are over 6,000 inmates committed in the Cebu City Jail.

The jail officer also said they are hoping for donors to provide them surgical masks and other protective gear for everyone inside the jail.

Ylanan also reiterated that those who tested positive of COVID-19 are now placed in an isolation center separate from the rest inside the jail facility and that contact tracing is now ongoing.

“We’re not ruling out any possibility to explain how the virus reached the jail facility. It could be that one of the inmates who first tested positive brought it from the outside,” said Ylanan.

A report from BJMP – 7 on April 23 showed that a total of 144 individuals from the city jail underwent swab testing. /rcg