Female jail visitors must change napkins

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Women visiting inmates at the provincial jail here are required to replace their sanitary napkins with fresh ones given free by jail guards before being allowed to see their loved ones.

The requirement is aimed at preventing the smuggling of illegal drugs into the jail, warden Edwin Mangaliman said on Saturday.

Female visitors are asked to change their napkins in a toilet near the jail gate, after an attempt to sneak in illegal drugs was foiled last year.

And like adult visitors, children are frisked after a boy was caught bringing in “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) early this year.

Visitors’ slippers, shoes and undergarments are not spared from inspection. Mobile phones are also banned.

The two maximum security cells here are fully screened to prevent people from throwing contraband, particularly illegal drugs, in to inmates.

“We are trying very hard to avoid a Bilibid-like situation,” Mangaliman said, referring to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City where authorities uncovered an illegal drug network.

The surprise inspection conducted on 25 of 28 cells housing 1,750 inmates at the provincial jail did not yield any shabu but prohibited items were seized, Mangaliman said.

These included a bottle of rugby, an extended hard drive, several thumb drives and sharp objects like knives, scissors and screw drivers, and a grass cutter.

Three Chinese inmates yielded three SIM cards and two memory cards but no mobile phones were found.