Warden reiterates appeal for
LGUs' help on congested jails
2017 News File: Bohol's top jail official has reiterated his call for financial and logistic assistance from local government units (LGUs) in relation to prison cells which are flooded with drug suspect inmates, as a result of the government's relentless war on illegal drugs.
Bohol District Jail (BDJ) warden Jail Chief Inspector Jose Rusylvi Abueva, in an interview with The Bohol Tribune, said that at the provincial jail located at Cabawan District, Tagbilaran City, which is managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), 70 percent of all the inmates are drug suspects.
"The war on illegal drugs does not end after the arrest of a drug user or pusher," noted Abueva. "When drug suspects are kept in jails, there is a huge responsibility for jail officials to take care of them, helping them to restore their lives before sending them back to mainstream society as reformed individuals."
"Ang pagdakop kausa lang pero ang pagpakaon, pagbantay, pag-atiman sa mga piniriso buhaton kada adlaw ug pila pa ka tuig samtang nakasang-at pa sa korte ang ilang mga kaso," Abueva said.
He said that "if you are shocked seeing 40 to 60 inmates in one cell, the more you'd be shocked if you visit Quezon City, for instance, where hundreds of inmates are lumped in one cell."
"We have to look at the war on drugs in all angles," Abueva said. "Wala mahuman ang responsibilidad sa gobyerno pagkahuman sa dakop. Anaa pay mas dako nga trabaho sa dihang naa na sila sa prisohan."
The jail warden noted that BJMP's annual budget for every district jail is already fixed a year before the actual year of operation. So if the population of the jail grows at the middle of the year, the fixed annual budget has to be reprogrammed in order to accommodate all the inmates' provision for food.
"Nagkinahanglan usab kita ug tabang sa mga congressman nga ma-address ni nga problema at the national level during budget hearings. Nga unta mausob ang ilang pagtan-aw sa mga piniriso pinaagi sa paghatag ug dugang budget alang sa restoration sa kinabuhi sa mga piniriso," Abueva said.
On the other hand, Abueva reported that the provincial government of Bohol, as approved by Gov. Edgar M. Chatto, had allocated P10 million for a new jail building to be constructed near its current location in Cabawan District, this city.
"Nagpasalamat ta ni Gov. Chatto nga pinaagi sa suporta sa provincial government dili na kaayo maghuot ang mga piniriso sa usa ka selda," Abueva said, citing the upcoming jail building project. "Dako ug tabang ang Kapitolyo sa atong BJMP."
Abueva hopes that LGU officials in other towns, where other district jails are located, would come forward and help address the problem of congested jails.
"Manghinaot ta nga motabang ang mga lungsod sa pagsulbad sa problema," Abueva said.
PHILIPPINE JAIL SITUATION
Meanwhile, as several jails in the Philippines remain extremely overcrowded, Sen. Leila de Lima has sought for a Senate probe on a current situation of jails to address its current sorry state.
De Lima had sent Senate Justice Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Dick” Gordon a letter requesting him to give priority attention to her resolution P.S. Res. No. 97.
The resolution, filed last Aug. 15, seeks “instituting remedial measures that would ensure that the government accomplishes the goals of the penal and detention systems, including the protection of the rights and welfare of persons deprived of liberty.”
Attached to the letter are a series of photographs published by the US’s Time Magazine which captured the country jails’ congestion problem.
De Lima, former Justice Secretary, said she hopes that the panel would make it a priority as inmates continue to add to the already-congested jails which she described as in “unspeakable, uncivilized and inhumane condition.”
She further said that overcrowding encouraged the proliferation of illegal activities among the inmates among other problems.
“This extreme overcrowding of prisoners in jails breeds a number of severe problems in jail management, including illness and poor hygiene among inmates, substandard sleeping accommodation, lack of food provision, among others,” De Lima added.
Moreover, she said that inmates also tend to develop “tension and hostility” against each other which eventually lead to gang wars.
The neophyte senator further said that even if inmates have disobeyed the law, they were “still human beings who deserve to enjoy the basic rights to live decently and with dignity.”
In 2015, data showed that Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) accounts for 93,961 prisoners, which is 398 percent congestion rate in all the 461 jails in the country today. The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) accounts for 41,144 inmates in its seven prison and penal farms.
On the other hand, the Philippines has been ranked 12th in the world with a prison population of 142,168 in 2016, based on the World Prison Brief of the London-based International Centre for Prison Studies
As former Justice Secretary, De Lima pushed for passage of the modernization of BuCor in 2013 as part of the previous administration’s thrust to decongest and improve the facilities of the country’s jail system.
She meanwhile stressed that the state of the country’s jails should be given more attention especially in view of the intensified drive against criminality under the administration under Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.
Photo courtesy of Rey Anthony Chiu
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