CEBU, Philippines - Sixty-seven insular prisoners from the Cebu City jail were transported to the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa last night escorted by 27 heavily-armed jail officers.
Jail warden Ma. Victoria Jimenez said most of the prisoners were convicted of crimes like murder, robbery, rape and drug-related cases.
Jimenez said it is standard procedure that all “insular prisoners,” or those convicted of imprisonment of more than three years, would be transported to national penitentiaries like the New Bilibid Prisons to serve their remaining years of imprisonment.
If the concerned prisoners will show good behavior while at the New Bilibid Prisons, they will be transported to different penal colonies such as San Ramon Penal Colony, Iwahig Penal Colony and Davao Penal Colony.
As of yesterday afternoon, the city jail housed 2,029 inmates after the 67 insular prisoners were transported to the New Bilibid Prisons onboard an inter-island vessel.
“Duna pa ta’y mga insular prisoners nga nahabilin kay dili pa sila madala sa Muntinlupa kay duna pay pending nga mga kaso,” said Jimenez.
Jimenez, who is the concurrent head of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) personnel section, also said the number of jail officers in the region, particularly at the Cebu City jail, will be augmented early next year.
She said there are 50 newly-hired BJMP personnel who will be attending four months of basic jail management training at the Jail National Training Institute in Camp Vicente Lim in Canlubang, Laguna.
“Modaghan na unya ang atong mga jail officers nga makabantay sa atong mga priso sa lainlaing prisohan,” said Jimenez, although she did not give the statistics of jail officers in the region’s jails. — (FREEMAN)