The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) on Thursday inaugurated the new detention facility in Barangay Anahao in the town of Odiongan to address jail congestion in Odiongan District Jail.
The new detention facility is a P15 million, two-storey with roof deck building constructed on a 3,000 square meter lot donated by Elmina Fallar.
Jail Senior Supt. Maria Irene Esquinas, the regional director of the BJMP in Mimaropa, said in her speech during the inauguration ceremony, that the new detention facility can accommodate up to 550 inmates.
It has 11 cells that can accommodate up to 50 detainees each with bed bunks.
Esquinas added that the new clean, spacious, and well-ventilated jail will uplift the living condition of 119 persons deprived of liberty (PDL), who are presently detained at the old district jail in Brgy. Progreso Este.
“With this new facility, we can show the PDLs that we are not neglecting them, and we can also make them feel that the government cares about them,” said Esquinas.
Joining the inauguration ceremony were Congressman Eleandro Madrona, Governor Jose Riano, and Odiongan mayor Trina Firmalo-Fabic who expressed their support to the jail bureau.
The construction of the new district jail was funded by the BJMP.
