Bilibid boys hid phones in Bibles

‘HOTLINE TO HEAVEN’ Prison officials show the hollowed-out books and the smuggled gadgets they concealed. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book. And in this case, it uses The Good Book.

As though taking a page from the film “The Shawshank Redemption,” inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) concealed cell phones in hollowed-out Bibles and other thick tomes, officials said Thursday following another antismuggling crackdown on contraband at the national penitentiary.

The gadgets, along with other smuggled items, were discovered during a raid on Buildings 1 and 2 of the NBP’s medium security compound, which holds around 3,000 out of the total prison population of about 15,000. It was the 23rd raid since November last year under “Oplan Galugad.”

Also confiscated were computer parts, phone chargers, signal boosters and several bottles of wine, according to NBP Director Supt. Richard Schwarzkopf Jr.

“The number of contraband items we are getting from the inmates is slowly decreasing with every raid we conduct,” Schwarzkopf said.

Asked why smuggled items continue to be found in the NBP after more than 20 raids, Schwarzkopf conceded that small items like cell phones could still be brought into the compound by visitors or tossed over the prison walls.

The challenge is made tougher by the longtime problem of overcrowding in the prison facility, which Schwarzkopf said was originally designed to hold only 6,000 inmates.

To address the congestion, the official announced the NBP’s plan to transfer 400 inmates to the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan province and another 450 to the Sablayan penal colony in Occidental Mindoro next month.

The transferees will be chosen among the medium-security inmates. “They should be physically fit because we will also take them to areas where they will plant rice, corn and vegetables,” Schwarzkopf said, stressing that the transfer is part of the prisoners’ reformation program.