SAN CARLOS CITY–He did it again.

Senior Inspector Roque Constantino Sison III, the city jail warden of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) here, has once again been named as the country’s “Best City Jail Warden” for turning the once most neglected penitentiary into an ideal habitat for convicts.

SISON

Sison, who was informed of the judges’ verdict last Wednesday by Sr. Supt. Gloria Nocedo, BJMP’s regional director for region 1, received his award July 5 during the annual celebration of the BJMP anniversary.

Sison was already a multi-awarded city jail warden of Dagupan City’s BJMP, having won as Best City Jail Warden and the Best City Jail award in 2003. In 2002 and in 2004, the Dagupan City BJMP under his stint also won as the country’s Best City Jail because of numerous projects he had undertaken.

“Winning again a prestigious national award from our bureau is a sweet vindication for me,” he told The PUNCH.

It will be recalled Sison was unceremoniously sacked from his Dagupan post when an inmate escaped. The escapee, however, was quickly recaptured. He was immediately transferred to San Carlos City’s BJMP on June 1, 2006.

He said the San Carlos City Jail then was notorious being the most neglected city jail in terms of physical facilities and set up, inmates’ discipline and welfare.

“It’s main building looked like a haunted house then, its septic tank was overflowing and it had no perimeter fence,” was how he described the jailhouse.

“The inmates’ cell was like a dungeon and there was even no segregation between the 115 male and female inmates,” he pointed out when he assumed as the new city jail warden.

The BJMP in the city houses mostly high risk offenders whose cases are mostly heinous crimes including murder, rape, drug dealing in the Third District of Pangasinan.

He noted that one known notorious inmate was actually the one running the affairs of the city jail when he assumed his post.

He said his first priority was to segregate the female from the male inmates, followed by the construction of administration and warden’s office, the construction of the perimeter fence, a basketball court, a visitor’s lounge, the provision of livelihood projects for the inmates through bamboo craft making, religious activities, medical and dental assistance, among others.

Soon after the innovations started, help started to pour in from various sectors.

“Together, especially with the help of the late Mayor Julian Resuello and many other officials, we transformed the city jail from a neglected to a very conducive habitat for offenders,” Sison said.

“I am very elated to get the award. I have gone through a very sad experience. In fact, I call it sabotage but I was vindicated because of my good performance. I thank the Lord for this,” he said.

He added that “Perhaps my detractors thought that I couldn’t perform well anymore in San Carlos City but I was even more inspired and tried to duplicate here what I did at the Dagupan City BJMP.”—EVA

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