Full accounting for CPDRC

There’s a running joke about what song Joavan Fernandez would perform if and when he does join the famed dancing inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).

Will it be “Release Me?” by Engelbert Humperdinck, “Bawal na Gamot (Prohibited Drug)” by Willy Garte or “Bohemian Rhapsody” (the first lines which go “Mama, I just killed a man”) as suggested by some Facebook users?

Joavan is only one of over 1,600 inmates in an overcrowded CPDRC where the Capitol was forced to turn away transfers of inmates from municipal jails starting May 27.

It comes as no surprise. Congestion is a familar condition in jails across the country.

That inmates have to stay in cells packed like sardines in the sweltering heat of summer or the damp cold of the rainy season says much about how little value is placed on rehabilitation of prisoners. CPDRC is held up as an exception where choreographed dancing is positive therapy for inmates.

Most of them are detention inmates. They are still having their cases heard in court and awaiting judgement, but the public generally thinks of them as criminals in their midst.

Regardless of the stage of their case, and knowing that some don’t deserve to be there in the first place, the need to observe humane conditions and preserve the dignity of the arrested men and women is important.With a daily meal budget of P60 per inmate from the Cebu provincial government, that doesn’t go very far.

While Joavan and hardier suspects do their best to avoid jail time, not a few violators accept their fate and actually look forward to doing time behind bars in order to escape poverty.

The accommodations are spartan and the risk of gang violence is real, but for some desperate invdividuals, “free board and lodging” and the thrill of instant fame as one of the orange-suited dancers performing for tourists in the CPDRC quadarangle isn’t that bad.

The facility is less than ten years old, has closed circuit TV cameras in each floor and better sanitation levels than the old cuartel in M.J. Cuenco Avenue.

The Capitol can take a hard look at their budget for improving facilities, including the meals. With a new administration coming in, they can check out exactly how much were the donations collected from tourists and visitors who appreciated the CPDRC performances.

After the exit of Byron Garcia as Capitol security consultant, and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, maybe now we can get a full accounting.