QC detainees lose exhaust fans after jailbreak attempt

Detainees at a police station in Quezon City will now feel the heat, literally, after a failed jailbreak attempt using an exhaust fan window as an escape route prompted the city’s top police official to seal off these possible exit points.

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Supt. Richard Albano said on Thursday that he had directed all 12 police stations in the city to “secure all exhaust fans in detention cells”   by either taking them down or by putting bars in the windows.

He added that the air could circulate anyway through the spaces between the cell bars.

Albano gave the order after an attempted jailbreak at the male detainees’ cell around 2 a.m. at QCPD Station 3 in Barangay Talipapa.

A policeman had noticed a male detainee putting back a dismantled exhaust fan in place.

Though the fan window is small, a person can squeeze in and let himself out, Albano noted.

QCPD spokesperson Senior Insp. Maricar Taqueban said the cell’s 20 detainees have been transferred to the women’s detention cell for the meantime.