Prov’l jail inmates give up ‘heaters’, cellphones

POWER tripoffs in the Cebu provincial jail were just a symptom.

Too many gadgets wre causing an electrical overload.

Inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) yesterday gave up their improvised heaters and cellphones.

Warden Romeo Manansala said the inmates were asked to surrender the devices.

“I told them that if they do not stop using the heating devices, we may suffer from a long power outage. No lights, no water,” said Manansala.

The inmates would use makeshift heaters to boil water for coffee or milk. An electric wire from a plug would be attached to a spoon or fork and then immersed in containers filled with water. The water boils after three minutes.

“We understand that they need hot water so we decided to provide them with a proper electric heater,” said Manansala.

Manansala said jail consultant Marco Toral agreed to buy 10 electric heaters for the inmates but there will be a prescribed time for its use.

A total of 24 cellphones with chargers were also confiscated from jail visitors between January and May.

“The cellphones were either hidden in a plastic food pack or mixed in a bundle of vegetables,” Manansala said.

Inmates are not allowed to use cellphones in their detention cell for security reasons.
The jail houses 1,945 inmates, most of them facing drug-related charges.