ILOILO City – Visitors suspected of sneaking drugs and other contraband into jails in Western Visayas may be subjected to strip or naked searches and visual cavity searches.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) is tightening security following a series of contraband seizures in detention facilities.
BJMP Region 6 clarified, however, that jail personnel have long been authorized to conduct the intrusive searches when there is reasonable suspicion amounting to probable cause that a visitor is concealing prohibited items that cannot be detected through a standard pat-and-frisk search.
The authority is provided under BJMP Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 2010-05, which has been in effect since 2010.
However, BJMP stressed that the visitor’s consent must first be obtained before a strip or visual cavity search can be conducted.
Visitors may refuse to undergo the search, but they will not be allowed to enter the jail facility under the existing SOP and the 2015 BJMP Operations Manual.
The agency said the policy had been acknowledged by the Supreme Court in Tudes vs People (G.R. No. 230789), decided on April 10, 2019, and Quilet vs People (G.R. No. 242118), decided on September 2, 2020.
BJMP-6 also emphasized safeguards in carrying out such searches, including a requirement that they be conducted only by jail officers of the same sex as the visitor.
Female visitors may only be searched by female jail officers, while male visitors may be searched only by male personnel.
“The BJMP Region 6, while strengthening our security measures in order to prevent the entry of contraband in our jails, is firm on our policy of providing humane and lawful treatment to our PDLs and as well as promoting due respect to the rights of their visitors,” said Jail Chief Superintendent Elena B. Rocamora, BJMP-6 director.
The clarification comes amid heightened scrutiny of jail security following the discovery of illegal drugs, mobile phones and other prohibited items inside detention facilities in Iloilo.
During a joint greyhound operation by BJMP-6 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on September 14, authorities recovered about three grams of suspected shabu, two mobile phones and drug paraphernalia from the Iloilo District Jail-Male Dormitory and its annex in Pototan, Iloilo.
Eight persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) at the annex subsequently tested positive for illegal drugs, triggering an investigation into possible drug-smuggling routes, lapses in visitor searches and possible involvement of jail personnel.
Two days later, another operation at the Iloilo City District Jail-Male Dormitory in Jaro, Iloilo City yielded 35 mobile phones, a vape device, a charger and four SIM card starter packs.
The contraband discoveries were followed by the relief of two Pototan jail wardens as authorities continued investigating how prohibited items entered the detention facilities.
BJMP-6 assured the public that intensified security measures would remain within the bounds of existing laws and policies while protecting PDLs, visitors and jail personnel./PN
