EDITORIAL - Graduate schools for criminals

Convicted kidnapper Jaybee Sebastian said he learned the ropes of drug trafficking after he was convicted and began serving his life term at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa. Yesterday, confessed drug dealer Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr. told the Senate a similar story.

From earning peanuts as a street pusher selling a few grams of shabu, Espinosa said he learned the tricks of the trade when he was incarcerated in a Cebu jail. And he went big-time after a brief stay in Bilibid, where he met several of the nation’s top drug traffickers including Peter Co. Cleared on a technicality by the Court of Appeals and ordered freed, Espinosa could not free himself of the lucrative drug trade. Police have tagged him as the top shabu distributor in Eastern Visayas.

How did the country’s incarceration facilities turn into crime control centers? As previous congressional inquiries have indicated, collusion by corrupt jail or prison officials and personnel is a major reason. Incompetence or laziness are also possible factors, with those in charge of the penal system turning over to inmate leaders the task of maintaining discipline and order within the detention facilities.

Sebastian, when he faced the House of Representatives, said merely banning prisoners from using individual mobile phones could help curb their drug dealing activities. Testimonies at the congressional hearings have revealed that the Bilibid drug lords merely direct the movement of shabu, telling their suppliers where to send orders all over the country. Kerwin Espinosa said he began setting up his profitable network while at the national penitentiary.

The NBP and other facilities should restore the previous practice of limiting inmates’ communication privileges to common landlines where conversations can be closely monitored. The phone areas can be ringed with CCTVs. There should be a constant reassignment of the people who are in charge of conducting searches of visitors, including women and children, as well as vehicles entering the prison compound. Even better, cops or personnel from other agencies outside the Bureau of Corrections should be assigned to conduct thorough searches.

Beyond these measures, authorities should overhaul the penal system, modernize the facilities and provide more manpower and other resources so that inmates do not end up running the facilities. Local jails and national prisons cannot serve as command centers and graduate schools for criminals.