I’ve been in jail.

The food sucks, even if I helped make it better before I went into food safety.

Jonathan M. Hicap of the Manila Bulletin reports a total of 910 prisoners at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City have fallen ill due to apparent food poisoning since Friday.

Director General Benjamin delos Santos of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) told The Manila Bulletin that the “proximate cause is food served by caterer Thursday evening.”

However, investigators are also testing the facility’s water source.

“(We) will do lab tests on food and water tomorrow (May 29),” said Delos Santos.

Quoting the NBP report, he said 69 prisoners have been confined at the NBP Hospital and that one of them – an elderly inmate – was in critical condition.

“He is an elderly inmate from the minimum security compound and has been ill before,” he noted.

At least 600 other prisoners were diagnosed with diarrhea and attended to by doctors at the NBP Hospital emergency room since Friday.

Delos Santos said a total of 910 prisoners were affected including those who showed symptoms of diarrhea but could just treated at their own dormitories in the Minimum Security, Medium Security and Maximum Security compounds.