CEBU City Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella wants to resume plans to decongest the Cebu City Jail in Barangay Kalunasan.
This, after learning that Supt. Johnson Calub was reassigned as jail warden of the facility after serving in Lapu-Lapu City.
“I’m happy that he is back because we can now pursue the operation decongestion that we previously started. This is a very welcome development,” he said.
In an interview yesterday, Labella said the plan to decongest the jail started two years ago. But the program was stalled after Calub was transferred to Lapu-Lapu.
Modules
Labella said Calub has the modules on how to go about decongesting the facility.
He said there is an urgent need to decongest the jail since it now houses at least 2,600 inmates when it capacity is only 800 to 900 inmates.
Labella said there are paralegals inside to assist in decongestion project.
These paralegals, he said, are composed of 20 to 30 trained inmates.
Labella said there are many prisoners who have served and outlived their sentences but are not yet released, leading to decongestion.
“Ang reason nga di pa sila kagawas is that their cases have not been fully decided by the courts. We have long delays in courts. We still have to gather data on how many are the detention prisoners or those whose cases are stll pending in court,” he said.
Probational
Aside from that, Labella, who is a lawyer, said there are inmates who have probational cases that may have probational sentences.
Labella said assisting in the cases of the inmates will not only decongest the jail but will also allow prisoners to join the mainstream society.
“Our penal system is not punitive and afflictive but reformatory and corrective,” he said.
Decongesting the jail will also help the City Government as it would mean savings on the funds that annually go to the facility, he said.