Bilibid boys to sleep in freight containers

From kubol (quarters) to kahon (boxes).

New Bilibid Prison officials will soon use freight containers as sleeping quarters for some inmates to replace shanties that had become either eyesores or hiding places for contraband.

In an interview Wednesday, NBP Superintendent Richard Schwarzkopf said the metal boxes would be cheaper to set up than concrete structures and could fit bunkbeds for eight inmates each. The containers can also be moved around the compound, he noted.

The freight containers may be used for high-risk inmates who may be transferred from the congested maximum security compound (MSC) to the medium security area, which the NBP administration plans to expand, the official added. The MSC was built only for 6,000 inmates but currently holds about 15,000.

“This is our immediate solution to the congestion problem,” he said.

Schwarzkopf disclosed the plan after some 120 Bureau of Corrections (BOC) personnel demolished another cluster of shanties along the walls of the MSC and some quarters in Building 11. The BOC began removing such structures last week, starting with those that were already blocking the view of security cameras.

Also on Wednesday, an inspection of Building 13C, which is occupied by the Batang Cebu group within MSC, yielded an improvised shotgun, pointed items and cell phones, among others.