Hey all. I am a new member here and this is my first post. I was at the DI meetup (the bald, remarkably pogi gentleman), so I probably met a few of you. Anyhoo. Like death and taxes, it was only a matter of time before I found myself in a Philippine jail. I had spent about four hours at the land transportation office (LTO) waiting to get my Philippine drivers license when I wandered outside and noticed a squat and somewhat intimidating concrete structure directly across the road. I meandered to the front gate and was confronted with a sign stating that this was the Negros Oriental Detention and Rehabilitation Center. Curious, and realizing that this was a pretty good photo opportunity, I asked the guard if I could take a picture of the sign. "Sure," he nodded, "Would you like to come inside and look around?" Ah, the ever effusive nature of Filipino hospitality! Not having much else to do, and knowing that it could be hours more before I received my Philippines drivers license, I acquiesced. I was surprised to see that not only was the front door to the jail unlocked, there actually was no lock on it. Hmmmmmm..... I wondered absently if that had an effect on nearby home values. As soon as I stepped through the door, the guard gestured two of the inmates over. He introduced one of them as Johnharken, and stated that he would show me around. Cool. The jail is set up like its own little self-contained village. Enclosed by concrete walls and barbed wire are number of structures, amongst them five 60-man cellbocks (actually, one of them is for female inmates), a small school, a furniture shop, a television repair center, a pool hall, a kitchen area/chow hall, a conjugal visiting building, and a number of sari-sari's and carinderias. The jail has a capacity of approximately 300 inmates but on that day they only had 258, a mix of detainees awaiting trial and provincial and national convicted inmates. Jonkharken himself confided that he had spends 10 years at the center for a murder conviction but his case was currently under appeal. He also stated that such appeals have a tendency to take some time in the courts. The inmates were friendly enough bunch and were used to seeing foreigners there as some come in every week to conduct ministry and Alcoholic Anonymous meetings. I wandered around taking pictures and talking to some of the inmates. Since visitors are allowed, there were a number of kids running around playing, and families sitting around tables or cabanas talking about whatever families in that situation talk about. View attachment 10047 Cons chillin' in a cabana. View attachment 10048 One of the 60 man cell blocks. View attachment 10049 One of the carinderias (with proud chef) View attachment 10050 Conjugal visit building - where the magic happens. View attachment 10051 Furniture shop. View attachment 10052 New man section - for newly arrived cons. View attachment 10053 Pool hall - full of sharks. View attachment 10054 The jail's school. View attachment 10055 Sari-sari/hair salon - the place is coed. View attachment 10056 Daily count roster - dunno what "welfareville" is. I asked Jonharken why none of the prisoners escaped since there is no lock on the front door. He replied quite matter-of-factly that the island is only so big and you will eventually get caught and have more time added to your sentence. All in all it was a pretty groovy way to kill time while waiting for my license, and if you find yourself bored to tears at the Dumaguete LTO sometime, go for a tour of the jail. Just tell Jonharken I sent ya.
10 image limit on posts. More pix: View attachment 10057 Across from LTO - looks inviting! View attachment 10058 More fun than LTO, at least. View attachment 10059 Jonharken and Igor-like companion.
Thanks for an interesting couple of posts. I've spent considerable time at the cells myself of late, but let me clarify why before rumour control goes into overdrive. It's been on behalf of the British guy who was arrested for alleged drug offences. His drug test returned negative, the evidence offered was inadmissible, there was no case to answer, case dismissed. The highlighting and speculation of this case by the media, was disproportionate and inappropriate, fuelled by nothing more than the fact that he was a foreigner, but that is an issue to be dealt with on another day. ...... and as an afterthought, welcome to the Forum.
I agree great post. it's so amazing here,. if you are so friendly, how can even the jail birds be so cool? show respect and friendship with most (but not all) it works for a happy moment in time.
The biggest mass jailbreak in Negros Oriental happened in the evening of March 23, 1985 when 146 prisoners dashed to freedom. One guard was killed by the escaping inmates and twenty-five firearms were also taken by the escapees from the armory of the provincial jail. The OIC warden was out of town in Jimalalud. As of March 31, 1985 two had been killed and seventy-five had surrendered, or were captured. Sixty-eight escapees remained at large. This was the biggest mass jailbreak in the history of the province. *Chiquiting Like · · Share · 666 · about an hour ago · https://www.facebook.com/teamHUKAD
