It is bursting at the seams CPDRC rejects more inmates

CEBU, Philippines - Because it already reached its maximum capacity, the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) has stopped accepting inmates from the towns starting last May 27, 2013.

This policy would stay until some inmates are taken to the National Penitentiary.

Acting Governor Agnes Magpale approved the undated letter of acting CPDRC Warden Romeo Manansala to all municipal police stations stating that the number of inmates at the facility has gone beyond its maximum capacity.

Manansala reported that the current jail population has reached 1,684 which is beyond the maximum capacity of 1,400 inmates.

“Please be advised to refer or call the office of the Governor for approval prior to bringing remand inmates to this facility,” said Manansala in his letter.

  The offices of the town mayors are also informed about the move of the Capitol.   The CPDRC is under the Cebu Provincial Government administration unlike the Cebu City jail which is under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Early in 2010, the Capitol attempted to turn away new arrivals for the same reason that the facility has reached 1,548 inmates. The CPDRC accepted only two detainees for each police station every month.

Some policemen complained the set-up would mean they would have to spend their own money to feed the inmates.

More inmates will be accepted at the CPDRC once the batch of 30 to 40 inmates would be taken to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.

Because of this, Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador said they will utilize their police stockades or detain some suspects in nearby police stations.

Police stockades of Consolacion and Argao are said to have been congested and Comendador plans to transfer some of the detainees to neighboring police stations.

Comendador is hopeful that the plan of constructing a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Argao will soon materialize like in Medellin town.

He added that there is no standard size of jail in each police station and there is no standard number of detainees in a single stockade. He also said that overstaying inmates at the CPDRC should have been sent to Muntinlupa already./JPM (FREEMAN)