Supermax

Plans are afoot for the construction of a maximum security prison facility for 2,000 inmates convicted of heinous crimes, “who should not be within the reach of other people.”

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said as much during the DOJ’s budget hearing at the Senate.

Boying Remulla said the Department of Justice is in talks with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to finalize the details of building the prison facility in Sablayan, Mindoro Occidental next year.

Media dub it a “supermax prison.”

Let’s hope DPWH contractors and engineers construct an escape-proof facility. The inefficiency of the DPWH caused the collapse of four bridges – in Pangasinan, Laguna, Davao City and Bohol – in the last two years.

If the construction of four bridges is an indication, the proposed supermax prison might have substandard walls that will favor the escape of inmates.

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For it to be true to its name, the proposed supermax prison facility should have cells that would each accommodate two inmates. This should help minimize, if not eliminate the formation of gangs.

Putting many inmates in one cell leads to the formation of gangs that would compete for supremacy with other such groups in other cells.

Former inmates of the New Bilibid Prison told me they were forced to join a gang assigned to a cell, so other inmates would not bully them. Their gang mates protected them from other gangs.

Placing the supermax prison in the Sablayan Penal Colony would discourage its inmates from escaping as the prison complex is surrounded by a thick forest which is inhabited by malarial mosquitoes, and towns that are alert to the presence of strange faces. The same is true of the Palawan Penal Farm.

Convicts serving life terms should be isolated from the rest of the world. Even their relatives and friends will be discouraged from visiting supermax because of its inaccessibility. Lifetime inmates should be held incommunicado.

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The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) should now never accept new guards and other employees who are related to old guards.

Prison guards at the New Bilibid Prisons and other prison facilities in the country are mostly blood relatives.

This unusual setup makes for guards covering up for the lapses or shenanigans of their fellow guards.

A guard would not tell on a fellow guard who, for example, brings in contraband for inmates into the prison facility. Filial loyalty dictates that this would be the normal course of action for him.

BuCor officials come and go, but prison guards and other rank-and-file employees remain.

The late BuCor director Vic Vinarao tried to break up the practice of accepting applicants who have blood relatives among those already employed; he failed. Vinarao was up against an entrenched system.

New guards learn the ropes from the older ones – guards who are fathers, brothers, cousins or uncles to the fresh faces – and this perpetuate the corrupt system.

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I hope that my friend and his nephew, who are in jail awaiting trial, can spend their Christmas with their respective families.

I would like to thank Court Administrator Raul Villanueva, who promised to help secure their temporary release from the Pampanga Provincial Jail.

My friend, Ismael “Boy” Garcia, in his early 50’s, and his nephew, Jesus Garcia Torres, have been in jail for three months due to a kidnapping case filed by their close relative, Jay Garcia.

Their co-accused are Arnold Garcia, an architect; Randy, an engineer; Ronald, a physical therapist; and Alan Garcia Torres. All are working abroad.

Arnold, Randy and Ronald are the complainant’s siblings, while Alan and Jesus are his first cousins. Ismael is the complainant’s uncle.

Boy Garcia, my martial arts buddy/instructor, has been asking for my help through his wife for him and Jesus Garcia-Torres, former councilor of Apalit, Pampanga, to be able to spend Christmas with their families.

If I didn’t know Boy Garcia, who’s soft-spoken with mild manners, I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole.

The kidnapping case is one for the books.

Jay Garcia, the complainant, got back at his siblings, cousins and Uncle Boy apparently after they had him confined in a drug rehabilitation center in Pampanga.

They were all concerned about Jay’s allegedly habitual use of illegal drugs.

Boy told me about the kidnapping case he was facing along with his relatives while it was still in the prosecutor’s office several years ago.

I laughed at the ludicrousness of the charge. I remember telling Boy the case would not reach the courts. I was wrong.

If the complainant’s siblings, cousins and uncle (Boy) could be charged in court for having him confined for drug rehab, why wasn’t the town mayor who they sought help from and who had Jay confined not included in the kidnapping case?

All Boy Garcia and Jesus Garcia Torres are asking from the court trying their kidnapping case is for them to be allowed to post bail.

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Trivia: Capt. Stanley Ng piloted the jetliner that President Bongbong Marcos and his entourage rode in going to Cambodia and back.

Who is Captain Ng? He is the president and chief operations officer (COO) of Philippine Airlines. He was a PAL pilot for a number of years before he became its honcho.

The self-effacing, youthful-looking Ng is married to Lilybeth Tan, one of the daughters of tycoon Lucio Tan.

Both Stanley and Lilybeth are pilots.