EDITORIAL — Enforcement will be the challenge

Noticing that more and more drug lords are successfully able to run their business even while in jail, lawmakers are proposing stiffer penalties and more jail time for those caught smuggling contraband into prison.

House Bill 9153, otherwise known as the proposed Contraband Detection and Control Act, wants to impose jail terms ranging from 20 to 40 years and a fine of ?5 million to ?10 million to any person who shall “introduce, convey or attempt to introduce or convey dangerous drugs, firearms and explosives, or those who will be caught in possession inside a prison facility.”

Let’s focus on the drug lords here. So how does this work exactly? They want more jail time for drug lords already in jail? Isn’t that just helping them stay longer in a secure location where they can safely conduct their business?

Let’s say they find some way for this to work, the problem, as always, is about enforcement.

Are jail authorities really capable of taking away the influence and the connections of a drug lord even while he is in jail? Can they dismantle his drug empire and make sure he never rebuilds it again? Can they realistically stem the flow of prohibited items in and out of jails?

Time and time again we have been assured that the drug lords who end up in jail no longer pose a threat to society, but more and more people caught dealing with drugs on the outside point to the jails as their source of drugs.

The intentions of the new law are well and good, but it always boils down to how --even if-- it can be enforced. Enforcement is almost always good at first, but as time passes people who do the enforcing become lax.

This is made even more challenging by the kind of prison system we have, one that is very prone to corruption. One only needs to look at how it was handled by former Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag to realize this.