THE jail warden of the Baguio City Jail female dormitory revealed that most of the 93 inmates detained in the facility are facing drug-related charges pending in the different courts in the city.
Chief Inspector April Rose Wandag-Ayangwa, jail warden of the female dormitory, said of the 93 female inmates, 43 are facing drug-related charges, 20 had been charged for estafa followed by illegal recruitment, theft among other cases.
She added the oldest inmate is aged 95 who has been convicted of estafa while the youngest is 20 years old who is facing theft charges before a local court.
“The situation in the female dorm is still manageable to date although we have three senior citizens but no children in conflict with the law PDLs,” Ayangwa said.
Under the standards of the United Nations (UN), Ayangwa claimed the ideal number of PDLs supposedly in the female dormitory is 50 and efforts are being done to continue decongesting the facility through various interventions by the courts where the cases of the PDLs are pending.
According to her, with less than 100 inmates, the situation is still manageable because everyone will still be lying in their beds but if the population will exceed 100, there will be a problem because some of them will be constrained to sleep on the floor of the facility.
The jail officer claimed there are numerous activities done inside the facility ranging from behavioural and educational activities, skills trainings and livelihood endeavors, among other activities, of inter-faith groups to keep the PDLs busy while they are detained in the facility to maximize the use of their time and reflect on the cases that they are facing.
She said inmates are also involved in bread and pastry production, the making of souvenir items, among other related livelihood activities, to allow them to earn income even if they are detained in the facility and the same is being done through the assistance of concerned government agencies, the local government and other private organizations who help in reforming them so that they will be brought back to mainstream society once they will be released from detention.
Ayangwa urged the public to patronize the products of the inmates to help these earning something for their families while detained in the facility.
The newly promoted jail official expressed her gratitude to the various government agencies, the local government, the inter-faith groups and other private individual and organization partners for their unrelenting and uncompromising support to the programs, projects and activities of the female dorm that allowed the facility to reap numerous local, regional and national awards over the past three years.
Ayangwa is awaiting orders for her possible reassignment to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology regional office considering that she already exceeded her supposed tour of duty as jail warden of the Baguio City Jail female dorm. (PR)