Ordinance to penalize phone sneaking in jail

CEBU, Philippines - The sneaking of cellular phones and other communication devices at the Mandaue City Jail will be dealt with penalty once a proposed ordinance of the City Council will be enacted.

City councilor Demetrio Cortes recently sponsored a draft ordinance which prohibits the sneaking, using and carrying of mobile phones and other communication devices at the jail and provides penalties for such violation.

Aside from the inmates and their visitors, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel themselves are also subject to penalty once the ordinance is enforced.

This as jail officers and staff must declare their mobile phones and other electronic communication devices, including brand, unit and description as they will only be allowed to use their phones in areas designated by the jail warden and strictly not at the jail cells.

An inmate found sneaking or carrying mobile phones and other communication devices will be meted with a penalty of P5,000 in favor of the city government, and their device will be confiscated.

Sneaked devices from visitors will also be confiscated and the violators visiting rights revoked on top of a P5,000 penalty.

Guilty jail officers will be meted with the same penalty with revocation of allowance benefits.

"In most prisons, inmates are banned from possessing mobile phones due to their ability to provide an easy continuing connection back to the inmate's life on the street, use them to intimidate and threaten witnesses, transmit photographs, orchestrate crimes, coordinate escapes, bribe prison officers, order retaliation against other inmates, text other prisoners, gain access to the internet, and create security breaches," Cortes' draft ordinance stated. (FREEMAN)