Congestion hits Talisay City Jail

The Talisay City Jail has more than 200 inmates, almost twice the capacity the jail facility is allowed to accommodate, according to warden Johnson Calub.

Calub told The Freeman that the Talisay City Rehabilitation and Detention Center is supposed to house 150 inmates but with the increasing number of prisoners, the jail facility's five cottages are now accommodating at least 245 detainees.

One of the cottages, which are concrete houses surrounded by a fence made of barbed wire, is occupied by 31 female inmates.

Because of the growing number of detainees, Calub has requested the city government to construct more cottages, which will also be used for minor detainees. Currently, the jail has 21 minor inmates.

About 70 percent of all inmates at the jail face drug charges, while the rest are being accused of rape, murder or robbery. Majority of the detainees are Catholics while only two are Muslims.

Data released by the jail office showed that most of the inmates did not finish elementary school, and some of them are even considered illiterate.

Calub said the statistics also showed that only two percent of the inmates are "returnees," or those who were previously imprisoned but had returned for another offenses.

Each of the prisoners is allotted with P40 allowance a day from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.