EDITORIAL - Porous jails

Thirteen men accused of murder, robbery with homicide, rape and drug possession are roaming free after escaping from a local jail in Negros Occidental Wednesday afternoon. Every effort must be made to recapture the 13. At the same time, authorities must penalize the jail guards under whose watch the 13 escaped. Imposing appropriate penalties is the only way to compel efficiency among those tasked to keep inmates behind bars.

Inmates escape with alarming regularity from the country’s jails, and high-profile convicts have walked out of national prisons. Terrorists, kidnappers and drug dealers have waltzed out of maximum security detention facilities even at Camp Crame, headquarters of the Philippine National Police.

The escapes compound the glacial pace of court adjudication, eroding public trust in the country’s criminal justice system. In the latest incident, an inmate reportedly pointed a .38 caliber handgun at a jail guard in Sagay, Negros Occidental during the late afternoon headcount, while another guard was disarmed by a knife-wielding inmate. The gun was then used to blast away a cell lock and the 13 walked to freedom.

Such escapes, plus the snail-paced administration of justice, have contributed to public support for shortcuts to law enforcement, including the summary execution of crime suspects. Even police officers are disgruntled, seeing their work wasted when suspects escape from jail.

Those 13 escaped inmates must be recaptured as soon as possible. At the same time, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which has jurisdiction over the Sagay jail, should determine culpability for the escape and impose punishment. Every jail guard must be made to understand the importance of his role in the criminal justice system, and the consequences of failure to do his job.