No doctor, poor diet for Cebu city inmates of overcrowded jail

INMATES at the Cebu City jail need a change in diet and immediate medical attention.

Sister Joachim Brown of the Missionaries of Hope also pointed out the “terrible overcrowding” of the 2,249 detainees, including 36 who have mental disorder problems and many others afflicted with tuberculosis.

The congregation has been assisting in the care of the inmates’ health for two years now.

“There is no doctor on call for the whole of the prison, therefore, inmates have no regular medical checkups as is normal in an institution of men who are incarcerated. Because of this, simple medical conditions spread as one contaminates another,” Brown said in a letter to Councilor Alvin Dizon.

The psychiatric inmates aare quartered in a 40-sq. meter area and lack access to medication.
Brown is asking the city’s help in making a medical doctor and a psychiatrist available to the detainees, the assignment of a portable x-ray machine and laboratory inside the jail, and a review of their diet and the need to secure a court order before they could get medical treatment.

Her letter was among the items discussed during the council’s June 11 session. Legislators have scheduled a July 23 executive session with Brown and officials from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) to discuss issue.

The city jail was built to accommodate about 1, 000 detainees but now holds more than double its capacity. Brown cited the “serious deficiency” of the inmates’ diet which has led to malnutrition and even the death of some inmates.