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Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Rama: Focus on decongesting city jail, not on investigations
INSTEAD of launching more investigations, authorities must focus on decongesting the Cebu City jail.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama said this when sought for comment over the recent deaths of two more Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) inmates, which brought to five the number of prisoners who died this month.
“As far as I am concerned, I will be spending more (time) on decongestion intervention and the oversight committee should facilitate the medical needs of the inmates,” he said in an interview in his office.
If the City and the oversight committee “start concentrating on investigating deaths, shabu and other things, nothing will be done” to decongest the jail.
He said the City should instead work on improving jail conditions to avoid more deaths.
Overdose
Deaths of BBRC inmates became controversial last year when physicians attributed some of these to shabu overdose.
An inmate even executed a sworn statement identifying two jail guards as having knowledge of the illegal drugs trade inside the jail.
Rama said he will invite a forensic pathologist to do autopsies.
Just this month, five BBRC inmates died. Rosales Suan, 48, and Junnie Reyes Tuba, 24, were rushed to separate hospitals the other day.
Tuba, who had been complaining of difficulty in breathing, didn’t make it to the hospital alive, while Suan died of sepsis secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis.
Pending autopsy results, jail officials refused to say if illegal drugs had something to do with the deaths.
Rama, though, is not keen on investigating the matter. He said solving the problem of congestion, which is taking its toll on the inmates’ health, should be a priority.
The BBRC, built only for 250 prisoners, now houses over 1,200 inmates.
Also, Rama said the BBRC oversight committee must explain why it is unable to implement the recommendation to have blue guards at the BBRC gates.
The recommendation was made on the assumption that jail guards and officials may have a hand in the jail’s illegal drugs problem. (RHM)
(January 19, 2005 issue)
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