Freedom and Death Inside the Jail.pdf - The Action Program for ...

Drugs and Liquor Galore
While the black market has enabled inmates to become selfreliant
in terms of providing for their own needs, it has also
given rise to an underground economy inside the Jail. This
structure has introduced inmates to liquor, drugs, and other
illegal material.
Control of the drug trade comes from the top echelons of the
panunungkulan. The mayores usually has an army of kabayo
or pushers, from whom inmates get their supplies of illegal
substances. Some mayores, however, prefer not to be directly
involved in the drug trade. They simply provide protection
to inmate-pushers and, in turn, get a certain amount from the
profits. Other mayores, meanwhile, have nothing to do at all
with the trade. They do not even know that they have constituents
who are selling drugs despite the rule that inmates should
inform their leaders of their activities.
Some jail guards are involved in the illegal drug business.
These officers are the main reason why there are drugs inside
the Jail. They are in cahoots with dealers in facilitating the entry
of illegal drugs into the Jail.
Drugs are brought into the Jail sometimes through the purchasers.
Since they are allowed to buy supplies for inmates, some
purchasers take advantage of this privilege and include illegal
drugs in the items they bring to inmates.
The code of secrecy, which is strictly observed among the
pangkat, makes it terribly difficult among jail officers to uncover
the drug trade. In these instances, jail officers have to use their
inmate-assets to do the probing for them.
Liquor follows the same route as that of illegal drugs in getting
into the cells. The sale of liquor is, in fact, more rampant in that
even inmate leaders of lower rank are allowed to participate in
the trade.
Matik and Hirit
Pot: Empowerment and Excesses
Matik and hirit ng empleyado drain cell funds significantly.
Matik is from the word “automatic” and is used to facilitate a
request made by an inmate to a jail officer. When inmates request
special favors from jail officers, it is automatically understood
that the former will give the latter some amount of grease money.
It is the inmate who initiates this practice.
Hirit, meanwhile, refers to the practice of jail officers of asking
favors from inmates. Inmates do not ask for something in
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