CEBU CITY — Prison guards and office personnel of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) will be restricted within the facility as a measure to help keep it free from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Governor Gwen Garcia said preemptive measures have to be taken in the Capitol-run CPDRC after 209 inmates of the Cebu City Jail were found to be positive for the virus as of April 25.
The two jail facilities are situated just meters apart in Barangay Kalunasan.
Mandaue City Jail has also recorded one confirmed COVID-19 case.
Garcia said the CPDRC remains COVID-19 free.
“Right now, I am thinking about how to protect the CPDRC, seeing as the Cebu City Jail is just right across the street and the numbers are shooting up the roof of positive cases,” Garcia said.
Visiting rights at the CPDRC has been suspended since March and allowing jail personnel to go home daily may pose threat to the facility which houses at least 1,700 inmates.
The governor has asked CPDRC Warden Reynaldo Valmoria to look for a space that could be used as living quarters for the jail personnel.
The governor said that inmates are given enough time to exercise while regular disinfection of the cells is also being done.
“We practically put the CPDRC on lockdown. But inside, they are all okay. They are in a good situation and they have good food,” Garcia said. (Calvin D. Cordova)