Health of inmates ‘at risk’ in overcrowded Carcar jail

THE Carcar City jail is presently housing some 137 inmates – more than thrice the capacity of the prison facility, which was designed for only 40 detainees.

With this problem, Senior Insp. Dennis Aliño, Carcar City jail officer-in-charge, asked the court to “immediately stop” the commitment of new provincial detainees, especially from San Fernando town, to the prison facility.

“Since the problem of overcrowding of inmates has since reached an unbearable level in our jail facility, the undersigned deems it best to raise this issue,” Aliño said in his letter to Executive Judge Silvestre Maamo Jr.

Aliño said prisoners from San Fernando are being sent to the Carcar City jail.

Since they are considered provincial detainees, they are supposed to be detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), which is under the supervision and control of the Cebu Provincial Government.

Jurisdiction

Also, the Carcar City jail is supposed to accept detainees who allegedly committed crimes within the jurisdiction of the city, the jail warden explained.

But when CPDRC stopped accepting detainees, the Carcar City jail has started accepting provincial inmates from San Fernando town.

This led to the overcrowding of inmates at the Carcar City jail which has the capacity of 40 inmates only.

Aliño also pointed out that their prison facility is attached to the ground floor of the Carcar City Hall.

The prison used to be a police detention cell of the Carcar Police Station when the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology took over the custody of the inmates in the city.

Design

Since the place is not originally designed as a prison facility, Aliño also said it has poor ventilation and lacks a secured area for physical and regular sunning activities of the inmate.

“Most of the time, the inmates are cramped inside their cells,” the jail official said.

He said the present situation of the inmates inside the prison facility poses danger to the health of prisoners, some of whom are afflicted with lung cancer, tuberculosis, diabetes and bipedal edema, or the swelling of both legs.

Aliño said it is time that inmates from San Fernando town and other provincial prisoners whose crimes were committed outside Carcar City not to be detained at the Carcar City jail.