CPDRC hires folk healer to help ailing inmates
THE Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) is back to normal two weeks after 12 inmates went berserk due to what psychologists said was mass hysteria.
Marco Toral, provincial consultant for jail matters, said the 12 inmates have been well since a day or two after the incident last June 8.
“Nakatabang gyud to ang pag bisita sa albolaryo (the visit of the folk healer helped a lot),” he told Cebu Daily News.
Toral said the folk healer locally known as albularyo performed rituals to rid the inmates of “evil spirits.” Psychologist Rose Gonato of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center’s (VSMMC) Pink
Room earlier recommended that an in-house psychiatrist be hired to attend to the psychological needs of the inmates.
The need for an in-house mental health professional arose after the suicide of Australian detainee Hilton Reece Munro inside his isolation cell in April this year.
CPDRC houses over 4,300 inmates of whom 100 are women.
The Provincial Health Office asked the Department of Behavioral Sciences of the VSMMC to provide them with a psychologist.
Dr. Cynthia Genosolango, PHO head, said her office is willing to train two of their staff members and provide transportation if VSMMC sends its personnel to CPDRC.
The number of inmates inside is way past the jails normal capacity of 1,600.
Following the incident, Toral said he will encourage the inmates to participate more in activities, like sports and spiritual programs.
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