A total of 901 detainees or 64.4% of the total prisoner population in Bohol are facing drug-related cases according to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

Superintendent Tomas Diaz Jr., Region 7 jail administrator, reported to the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) that majority of populations in each of the detention facilities in Bohol are facing drug charges.

The province’s detainees are held in four BJMP-run prisons, and these have a total population of 1399, Diaz said.

In the Tagbilaran City Jail (TCJ), 72% or 198 of 275 inmates have drug charges while 469 of 740 detainees at the Bohol District Jail (BDJ) are also facing drug cases.

At the Talibon District Jail, 92 of 159; Ubay District Jail 103 of 149; and Carmen District Jail 39 of 76 are facing drug-related cases.

Amid the growing inmate population in Bohol, BDJ warden Chief Inspector Jose Rusylvi Abueva called on local government units to establish detention facilities in their respective towns to decongest the overpopulated jails in the province.

Previously, Inspector Mark Anthony Omega, TCJ warden, told DYRD Balita that from 30 inmates, the jail population swelled to 275 resulting in an 817% congestion rate.

The said inmates are crammed into a 141 sq.m. cell space made for 30 while awaiting resolution of their cases in the courts.

Omega said that the Tagbilaran City Jail has only .51 sq.m. of space per inmate, but the ideal space is 3 sq.m. per inmate. (Rey Tutas)