Jail officials take precautions to protect inmates from heat

Following a death in an Ilocos Norte jail due to heat stroke, jail officials are taking precautions to protect inmates from a similar fate as well as from contracting diseases caused by the summer heat.

 

In Quezon City, officials at the Quezon City Jail are monitoring inmates for signs of heat stroke or hypertension, radio dzBB's Allan Gatus reported Thursday.

 

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology officials urged inmates to bathe at least twice a day to keep cool, the report said.

 

Other measures being taken included installing water fountains that can provide drinking water.

 

Jail officials have so far monitored skin irritations and coughs among the inmates, the report said.

 

The report added inmates at the Quezon City Jail are already packed inside the jail. It said the jail, which is designed to hold only 800, presently has 3,000 inmates.

 

Earlier this week, an inmate in the Ilocos Norte Provincial Jail may be the first fatality from the stifling summer heat the country has been experiencing in past weeks.

 

Ricardo dela Cruz succumbed to heat stroke in his cell earlier this week, according to a report on dzBB radio early Thursday.

 

Dela Cruz's fellow inmates were quoted in the report as saying it was very hot inside their cell.

 

The inmates said they noticed dela Cruz unconscious inside the comfort room early Tuesday. Dela Cruz was rushed to a hospital but did not regain consciousness.

 

His blood pressure had shot up to 300 over 160, the report said.

 

 

A separate report on "Balita Pilipinas" said the incident prompted the jail management to allow the inmates to turn on electric fans inside the cell for up to 24 hours a day. –KG, GMA News