Modify Operation Second Chance cell to protect jailers doing count – wardress

MINORS have to be moved out of the overcrowded youth detention center of Operation Section Chance in barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City where boys ganged up and mauled a jail guard last Monday.

A large cell holding 150 youths in the second floor also has to be modified so guards don’t have to enter to do a head count.

These are two recommendations of the center’s wardress or female warden, Senior Insp. Elsie Alcomendras.

The 11 p.m. daily head count was stopped after Monday’s commotion.

She said it is now done in the gym during lunch and late afternoon.

She also suggested decongesting the center and transferring some minors to the nearby Community Scout Building that is not occupied.

She said that she would raise these points in today’s visit of the Judge Olegario Sarmiento, who chairs the management board of Operation Second Chance and Cebu City Councilor Margot Osmeña.

This followed the suggestion of the PNP Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Central Visayas (BJMP-7) to change the manner of conducting the daily head count of young inmates to avoid a repeat of last Monday’s hostage-taking incident involving a jail guard.

The setup had jail guards entering the cell, which could endanger their lives, said Supt. Efren Nemeno, assistant regional director for administration and operation of BJMP 7.

He suggested to just let the youth inmates fall in line outside the cell while the jail guards do the count.

But Alcomendras said that this wasn’t possible because there were 150 youths in the large cell at the second floor of the building, making it difficult to see those at the back of the line.

There are four other smaller cells in the facility including one for the female inmates.

She recommended instead to modify the cell by adding a hallway in the middle to make it easier and safer for the jail guards to do the count.

Chief Insp. Priscillana Gilboy of the BJMP 7 Health Services will conduct today a seminar with the facility’s 17 jail guards on how to properly handle minor inmates.

Alcomendras said the seminar was necessary because most of the jailguards were new after eight jail guards were relieved after Monday’s emergency.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will also investigate the reported maltreatment of minors made by jailers.

CHR Regional Director Alejandro Alonso said in a TV5 report that they would investigate reports of alleged abuse by adult guards.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama for his part said he wanted to know how the city government could help in the management problems at the facility.

He said the relief of the eight jail guards accused by the minors of maltreating them wasn’t enough.He asked for a thorough investigation. /Correspondent Jhunnex Napallacan with Chito O.Aragon and Doris C. Bongcac