THE Cebu Provincial Board (PB) approved a resolution in their session yesterday supporting the appointment of a psychologist at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).
Last July, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said he wanted the PB to open a position for a resident psychologist to attend to over 2,494 inmates in the facility. At present, no such position exists.
He also considered tapping the services of psychologists in government agencies to help the inmates while the province searches for its in-house psychologist.
The appointment of a resident psychologist was recommended by the Provincial Health Office in the wake of the June 8 incident in which 12 inmates exhibited fits of hysteria, which many described as demonic possession. The PHO asked help from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center’s Department of Behavioral Sciences on the incident.
An Australian inmate also hanged himself in his detention cell this year after over spending months in jail with no bail on a charge of child trafficking.