Frank Morris in the making

Alcatraz, an island in California, is now closed as a prison cell and has instead become a tourist destination facility of sort. Tourists visit this place more for its notoriety than for any historical value. It was there where such convicted high-profile American criminals as Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, and Robert Franklin Stroud, were incarcerated. The variable number of prisoners it held was 1,576. To me, though, it became more infamous when the myth of Alcatraz Island as an “inescapable maximum security federal penitentiary” was shattered with Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin and John Anglin escaping from it.

Until the present though, there is no written record if Morris and the Anglin brothers really succeeded as living persons in their escape or whether they are still alive. Conjectures, however, continue to flow forth on the feat of Morris, et al. I particularly attach meaning to that evening of their incredible act, June 11, in the year 1962 because my lady, Carmen and our daughter Charisse celebrate their birthday on June 11.

I want to add another funny theory on why Frank, Clarence, and John did everything to get out of Alcatraz. I concede that this thought is also both wild and inconceivable but, what the heck, it is just one of thousand others. The prisoners carefully and meticulously planned their escape because they could not endure the jail’s foul smell. It was the unbearable odor that forced them to bolt jail. Ha ha ha ha.

Cebu City does not have an Alcatraz. It has its version in Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC). While this jail was originally designed to absorb about 800 prisoners, there are reportedly 5,000-plus inmates. Just imagine that the toilet facility of the BBRC planned for less than a thousand persons is now used by a quintuple population. How awful could the odor be!

I am told that the toilets of the BBRC are hopelessly inadequate, causing a foul smell to pervade the entire prison. My informant said that in 2019, and that’s about five years ago, the city government planned to construct a sewerage treatment plant to address this health issue. Honestly though, I am not sure if treating the sewer was the correct remedy to the situation. I assumed though that a careful study was conducted and mainly because it was perceived to help improve the environment within the walls of the jail, prisoners welcomed it. In fact, the project seemed purposeful that the initial ?25 million was reportedly doubled to ?50 million and still later was increased to ?90 million.

There are reports though that the BBRC Sewerage Treatment Plant project has met some problems. Accordingly, the contractor withdrew from doing the project for such inexplicable reason that the lot size is inappropriate. Why, did not the contractor study the proposed area before submitting his bid? My goodness! Then, the project has been defunded. And we also ask why? Did they not conduct any feasibility study before proposing to allocate the initial ?25 million? If it is true that the budget has been re-aligned, we can kiss goodbye to the STP and welcome the continuing foul odor of the BBRC. Should that be the case, we can expect the versions of Frank Morris escaping from the jail. Or they may stage violent jailbreaks!