Kin of inmates gripe on visit ban

RELATIVES of inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) are now feeling the restrictions imposed on their visits since yesterday.

A relative who requested anonymity said he finds the cancellation of visits to the inmates’ “unfair.”

“Why would the fault of one result in the punishment of all,” he told Cebu Daily News.

He was referring to last Friday’s near-riot between an inmate who brandished a knife and several inmates following a dance practice at the CPDRC quadrangle.

Public shows or family visitors for Cebu’s world-famous “dancing inmates” were put on hold by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia after Friday’s near-riot.

She said the privileges will resume once the inmates learn to behave anew.

A lockdown was issued on the 1,600-inmate facility that resulted in the suspension of visitation rights, dance rehearsals and communal meals. Detainees are not allowed outside the cells.

Meals are sent to their cells. The relative interviewed by Cebu Daily News was scheduled to visit his nephew who has been detained at the jail facility since last December.

He brought with him a box of coffee and foam bed for his nephew but he was unable to leave the two items to the security guard at the entrance.

His 30-year-old nephew was caught in a drug buy bust operation last year.

He and the live-in partner of his nephew managed a visit last Sunday.

“We hope the governor would reconsider, the inmates are only human. We hope she would allow the visits again,” he said. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus