A jail officer at the Escalante District Jail in the City of Escalante, Province of Negros Occidental has been suspended for six months for letting a person deprived of liberty (PDL) use a cellular phone.

The jail officer, with a rank of Jail Officer 1, was reportedly caught granting a PDL permission to use a cellphone.

According to investigation done by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) 6, it was in 2024 when a cellphone was recovered from the pocket of a PDL.

The investigation rendered that the cellphone was from the jail officer himself, as attested to by the PDL. The jail officer owned up reportedly to the allegation. 

However, he has not given a statement yet to GMA Regional TV One Western Visayas news team on the suspension, as of this writing.

“It was found out in their initial investigation, sabi ng PDL he was allowed, permitted by the jail officer to use the phone. Ang unang allegation, ginamit niya sa communication sa kanyang wife. Because of humanitarian reasons, in-allow niya (ang) pagpagamit ng cellular phone,”  Atty. Juniven Umadhay, spokesperson of BJMP 6, said.