Prov jail inmates offer P30K reward for escapee’s return

HE CASUALLY walked out of the gated facility early Monday morning with his own visitor’s ID and joined the flow of visitors who stayed overnight at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) as they were leaving their jailed loved ones in order to go home.

Now real visitors are being barred from going into CPDRC because of this jailbird’s flight from prison; and the more than 3,000 CPDRC inmates who have stayed put serving their time in jail are not about to take this sitting down.

For spoiling their visits, inmates of the provincial jail had gathered funds to reward anyone who could bring back escaped drug suspect 27-year old Arnel Mait.

Lito Granada, the designated “mayor” of the CPDRC inmates, announced that they had set aside P30,000 from their cooperative’s funds as bounty for Mait’s return.

If Mait decides to voluntarily surrender, Granada said that they will give the reward, although not in full, to his family as assistance.

“If he will voluntarily surrender, we will not punish him,” he told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano.

According to Granada, this will also give other inmates, who might escape in the future, a chance to see that it would be okay for them to go back to CPDRC as they will not be punished.

Capitol consultant on jail matters Marco Toral said the inmates decided to come up with the reward so that visitors will be allowed to enter the facility again after CPDRC officials indefinitely suspended visits which used to be scheduled every Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Disguised as one of the jail’s visitors last Monday, Mait had a visitor’s ID and a stamp on his arm when he slipped past the guards of the provincial jail.

Recovery teams were immediately sent out by jail officials to locate Mait’s wife and children in Barangay Taloot in Argao town as well as Mait’s parents in Dumanjug, southern Cebu.

“We heard from other jailmates of Mait that he wanted to escape because he thinks his wife has somebody else. He said that if he gets to escape, he will kill his wife,” Toral told CDN.

Mait’s wife and children were taken into the CPDRC yesterday where they were invited for questioning. Toral said that this was also to ensure that nothing bad happened to them following Mait’s alleged plans to kill his wife.

“Our negotiation is ongoing but it’s not yet 100 percent sure that Mait will surrender. We were already able to locate him,” revealed Toral.

As of 5:30 p.m. yesterday, Mait was still at large while CPDRC officials were still monitoring his whereabouts based on intelligence reports that they received.

Mait was last seen in his hometown in Barangay Taloot where he reportedly met with some residents claiming that he had already been freed from jail.

Mait also tried to ask money from people since he had no cash when he escaped, according to intelligence reports reaching Toral.

Because of Mait’s daring escape, Toral said that new security measures will be instituted in CPDRC once visits resume.

For instance, a head count of all inmates will be conducted before allowing them to go out to the quadrangle to meet with their visitors.

The visitors will also be divided into half based on gender with the women guests allowed to leave first, followed by the men.

Toral said CPDRC also plans on having a new visitor’s ID.

Prior to his escape, Mait was detained for six months as he was undergoing trial for the sale and use of illegal drugs.