'No criminal activities in Caloocan City jail'

As far as the city jail warden of Caloocan is concerned, all is well in his turf.

“There are no criminal activities in my jail,” Caloocan City Jail Warden Superintendent Lyndon Torres said Tuesday.

The statement was in response to Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago’s pushing for a multi-agency effort to curb illegal activities at the New Bilibid Prisons and Metro Manila jail facilities. His statement may raise eyebrows in some quarters but the man humbly told The STAR in an interview that he tries to stop them from happening even before they even begin thinking of committing them.

He said that in the last six months, he has checked drug trafficking, the most serious so far, among the 1,500 inmates in the city jail intended for only 500. He said his secret was simply “treating the inmates like human beings” and keeping them busy.

Torres, who makes his way around the seldas unarmed and unescorted, says “I had to earn their trust and respect” by being diplomatic and reasonable.

Taking The STAR for an unscheduled tour of the facility, Torres was spontaneously greeted by inmates, many of them spilling over into the basketball court and every conceivable space to keep out of the stuffy cell environment. Torres said he has been relatively successful in keeping violence among the inmates down by instituting reforms since assuming office in April.

Among the reforms he boasted about is literally putting up “rooftop garden” of pinakbet crops tended by the inmates. The usually drab concrete perimeter walls have been painted in “street art” by a group of detained artists.     

Torres said there is a plan to set up an artist’s gallery where the inmates can sell their wares to the public. Part of the proceeds, Torres said, will be set aside for inmates who have not been visited by their families and loved ones for a long time. A representative from the Isabela provincial government was at the prison Tuesday supervising the making of lanterns it contracted with city jail inmates.

Torres said he has also implemented a stricter discipline regimen to rein in abuses committed by his subordinates. He said he has ordered the dismantling of illegal barracks put up by personnel he has already relieved from their posts. The air conditioned barracks were reportedly used for illegal commercial sex for inmates, he said.

To gain the prisoners’ trust, he has strictly ordered his men from going around the cells cadging money from the inmates to fill their pockets in return for certain privileges. To check this, he said he has formed a cooperative managed by jail personnel with the dividends going back to them.

The multi-awarded officer told The STAR he does not in the strictest sense of the word “relieve” any personnel under him. “May papel na basehan. Dati, ginagawa nila ang gusto nila. But to me they don’t do that. I tell them mahigpit ako. I go by the book. I follow the law. If you don’t like my management style, you are free to go,” said Torres.

He said the usual “Operation Greyhound,” inspection of the cells for hidden contraband and illegal weapons, is still a regular chore and is held every Monday of the week. “During the ber-months, it is expected that occupancy will be high in this place but this has gone down surprisingly,” said Torres.

The jail officer said the city jail has been lucky to be visited twice by Supreme Court Justice Reynato Puno’s Justice on Wheels leading to a considerable decongestion at the facility.