Junior jail officers tapped to frisk their seniors for contraband

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) is apparently counting on the idealism of its junior officers—to keep watch on the seniors.

BJMP chief Director Serafin Barretto on Friday launched Task Force Tagmata in a renewed effort to stop the smuggling of contraband—including illegal drugs, weapons and communication gadgets—into city and municipal jails across the country.

Tagmata, which Baretto said was derived from the Greek word “tagma” (to set in order), would tap a select team of fresh graduates from the BJMP training camp to do a body search on their senior colleagues before the latter could enter the cells.

“We tapped the new graduates who were carefully selected by a screening committee to facilitate orders to search individuals and areas within the jail facility,” Barretto said in a speech at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

The new task force will serve as “an internal support mechanism to ensure that all of our personnel, including service providers, are not involved in the entry of contraband in jails.”

Chief Supt. Romeo Elisan Jr., head of the BJMP-National Capital Region, said an initial batch composed of 75 junior officers under Tagmata would be deployed at the Metro Manila District Jail (MMDJ) in Camp Bagong Diwa.

An inspection in December last year found 70 sachets of “shabu” inside MMDJ cells, which currently hold more than 5,000 inmates.

“We have assured (the junior officers) that the jail wardens up to the (higher) BJMP officials will support them,” Elisan said when asked regarding senior officers who would just intimidate their subordinates.

“The new graduates will police their more senior (colleagues). They will frisk our guards every time they enter the jail,” the official added.