More budget sought to decongest Eastern Visayas jails

TACLOBAN CITY, Dec. 8 -- Inmates in Eastern Visayas have living spaces five times less than the international standard, prompting the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to push for higher budget to decongest prison cells.

From the approved budget of PHP91.68 million in 2018, the agency raised its request to PHP207.9 million in 2019. Its five-year plan requires a budget nearly seven times higher than the PHP89 million actual budget for 2017.

Next year, BJMPs outlay will mainly finance the construction of jail facilities in Ormoc City; Carigara, Leyte; Basey, Samar; Dolores, Eastern Samar; Naval, Biliran; and Sogod, Southern Leyte.

BJMP regional engineer Insp. Marvin Cubio said congestion has worsened since President Rodrigo Duterte launched a crackdown against illegal drugs.

“More people engaged in illegal drugs have been imprisoned. With the slow justice system, inmates stay in our jail facilities up to seven years from the maximum of three years,” Cubio told PNA on Thursday.

As of December 5, the region’s 23 BJMP-managed jail facilities has 3,039 inmates. A prison cell is only designed to house 15 inmates, but the number is doubled in some areas, according to Cubio.

Under the United Nation’s standard a prisoner should have a living space of 4.70 square meters, but in the region, each prisoner has an allotted space of 0.75 square meter.

Overcrowding problem is more serious in jail cells of Tacloban City; Isabel Leyte; Baybay City; Ormoc City; Catbalogan City; Maasin City; and Sogod, Southern Leyte.

In 2019, up for construction and upgrading are prison facilities in Tacloban City, Burauen, Palo, Baybay City, Palompon, in Leyte; Calbayog City in Samar; Balangiga in Eastern Samar; Laoang in Northern Samar; Naval in Biliran; and San Juan in Southern Leyte.

“After these projects, we hope to bring down the congestion rate to about 300 percent,” the BJMP official said.

As one of the five pillars of the country’s criminal justice system, the BJMP was created to address growing concern of jail management and penology problem.

Primarily, its clients are detainees accused before a court who are temporarily confined in such jails while undergoing investigation, waiting final judgement and those who are serving sentence promulgated by the court three years and below.

The jail bureau is mandated to take operational and administrative control over all city, district and municipal jails. (SQM/PNA)