REGION 4A (Calabarzon) is host to two of the country’s worst jails in terms of inmate overpopulation — San Mateo Municipal Jail-Male Dormitory with a congestion rate at 2,696 percent and Dasmariñas City Jail-Male Dormitory at 2,283 percent.
If those numbers do not scare you, imagine cramming 28 bodies in a jail space intended for only one person. That is the condition of the San Mateo jail.
For Dasmariñas City Jail, it’s 24 inmates in an area meant for just one.
According to the 2021 audit of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), 337 out of the country’s 474 jail facilities are considered congested and non-compliant with the United Nations Minimum Health Standard Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which requires that jails must not only have enough space but must observe standards on ventilation and climatic conditions.
Among the reasons for the overpopulation of jails were slow court action on pending cases, inability of detainees to put up bail due to poverty, and delays in the construction of new jails or expansion of existing ones.
The BJMP’s own Manual on Habitat, Water, Sanitation, and Kitchen in Jails set the ideal habitable floor area per inmate at 4.7 square meters with one toilet, one wash area, and one bath area to be shared by two persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).
The BJMP is the agency in charge of district jails, city jails, municipal jails, extension jails, and female dormitories.
State auditors said that as of December 30, 2021, the total jail population stood at 125,347 but the BJMP only had existing jail space for 43,133 PDLs.
The audit team noted that according to the BJMP Directorate for Operations, 113,144 of these inmates — more than 90 percent – have not been convicted of the crime for which they were detained.
Many have not even seen the inside of a courtroom for the start of the trial on their alleged crimes.
Only 8,277 are serving sentences of less than three years.
Of more than 100,000 individuals crammed in jails, only 3,296 are considered insular PDLs or those with sentences of more than three years to death.
“Congestion in jails leads not only to health and sanitation problems but also to increased gang affiliation of inmates. To sustain survival, inmates hold on to gangs… where they find protection, network of social support, and most importantly, access to material benefits,” the Commission on Audit said.
Comparison of jail population year on year showed 10,011 inmates were added in 2021 from a total of 115,336 PDLs in 2020.
The biggest increases were recorded in Region 4A (Calabarzon) with 3,802 additional PDLs and National Capital Region (NCR) with 2,140.
