The Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) has installed a signal jammer to prevent persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) from using their mobile cellular telephones.
“Communication devices in the hands of PDLs present a serious threat to public safety,” the DPPF said in a statement issued Thursday night, March 25.
“Thus, signal jammer is one of the best solutions to prevent the illegal transaction made by some PDLs,” it stressed.
The DPPF explained that inmates are prevented “from possessing communication devices to avoid communication from the outside world posing security threat to a penal facility.”
But, it admitted that there has been illicit use of mobile devices among inmates and it has become a “threat to the general public and corrections officers and personnel.”
“Mobile phone jammers are becoming an increasing security need in prisons, jails, and detention centers” and their installation gives “high hopes of having a peaceful and orderly penal facility,” it said.