TO PREVENT their detainees from escaping, the Bacolod City Police Station 8 in Barangay Pahanocoy has tightened its security measures inside their detention cells, its commander Major Joerey Puerto said Tuesday, May 17.

Puerto said detainees are no longer allowed to tie their blankets at the grills.

They also strictly imposed a limited number of visitation hours as well as the conduct of body search on the visitors, Puerto said.

Only policemen detailed as duty jailers are allowed to bring food for the detainees instead of the visitors themselves, he said, adding that these measures aim to prevent the entry of contrabands in the custodial facility.

During a greyhound operation on May 14, Police Station 8 operatives discovered that the inmates were planning to escape by cutting the iron grills near the ceiling using a guitar cord.

There were 25 male detainees and two female detainees at the custodial facility at that time, Puerto recalled.

“We were conducting our regular greyhound operation inside the detention cell when we found out that a portion of the iron grills was already cut by the detainees,” he said.

The police official theorized that the escape was probably planned during the election period when the police station only has one jailer and desk officer.

Puerto said that every 6 p.m., the inmates were holding a prayer meeting and maybe while they were singing, some of their companions were cutting the iron grills using a guitar cord.

Puerto also said that the visitors are no longer allowed to go inside the jail and their food will be delivered by the jail officer.*