Friday, December 15, 2006 Inmate wakes up drunk guard
AFRAID that he might be reported to have escaped, an inmate woke up his escort and asked that he be returned to jail.
The jail guard allegedly got drunk after a hearing in Bogo, Cebu last Wednesday.
Murder suspect Alvic Inot and the jail guard did not return to the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) in Kalunasan, Cebu City until the next day.
Yesterday morning, the guard called the jail to report that Inot had escaped and he had to track him down to Daanbatayan, Inot’s hometown.
At 3:30 p.m. yesterday, the guard and Inot arrived. Capitol security consultant Byron Garcia ordered an investigation on the incident.
Sun.Star Cebu is withholding the name of the guard pending his comment.
It was learned that after the hearing, Inot asked his escort if they could visit his family. The guard allegedly agreed but asked for P400 as payment for their trip.
The guard allegedly got drunk in Inot’s house. The two fell asleep.
The next day, Inot’s father was surprised to see the two still asleep.
The father worried that jail officials might think his son had escaped.
When the two arrived at the CPDRC, the guard reportedly was still drunk. He had with him three fighting cocks.
The blue guards who frisked him found P300 in his possession.
Case
Garcia said they will be collating all the evidence against the guard today. They will file a case for gross neglect of duty. Garcia said he received reports that this is not the first time the guard committed the same lapse.
“I will recommend to the governor that he be preventively suspended. I know the governor will not tolerate this kind of work attitude,” Garcia said.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia had said that CPDRC is the best jail facility in the country but that its personnel fail in their duties.
In a related development, at least nine jail guards are under investigation for being absent without official leave and for tampering with their punch cards.
Byron said that at least four punch cards had been tampered with.
Five were also found to have been absent without official leave. Their punch cards said they were on leave when they hadn’t filed official leave forms.
Byron also received a letter from a former CPDRC inmate who is now in the New Bilibid Prison about irregularities committed by jail guards.
One of the allegations is that the guards ask for P200 from relatives of inmates who want conjugal visits even if it is not their schedule.
The jail management schedules conjugal visits to accommodate all the inmates. (MBG)
