MORE than 350 inmates under the supervision of the Bureau of Corrections were released yesterday, bringing to over 700 the inmates who have regained their freedom since last July.
BuCor data showed that of the 357 inmates released, 235 have completed their prison sentence while 122 were paroled by Malacanang.
Of those released, 136 came from the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, with 102 coming from the New Bilibid Prison.
Forty inmates came from the Iwahig Prison and Penal Colony in Palawan, 28 from the Leyte Regional Prison, 22 from the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City, and 20 from the Sablayan Prison and Penal Colony.
Last month, 371 BuCor inmates also regained their freedom, 45 of them senior citizens, having completed their sentence, pardoned or paroled.
In a brief speech at the NBP, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla vowed to work for the release of more qualified inmates.
“We will not delay the release of qualified inmates,” Remulla said, as he reminded BuCor officials and employees led by OIC Gregorio Catapang to do their job well. “Let us remember what the President said about compassionate justice.”
Remulla added that 318 more names have been submitted to Malacanang for executive clemency, either through parole, pardon or commutation of sentence.
He said the latest group could be released before Christmas.
“Even earlier basta kaya nating ilabas, ilalabas natin,” he added.
Remulla had earlier vowed to decongest BuCor prison facilities as part of the overall thrust of the department to institute reforms in the country’s prison system.
He said the NBP and other BuCor-operated prison facilities have a 330 percent congestion rate.
The national penitentiary currently houses 28,900 inmates, including those detained at the maximum-security compound.
The NBP was originally meant to house at most 6,000 inmates when it was constructed in 1940.
Remulla is also pushing for the building of regional prisons within the next three to four years as part of efforts to decongest the national penitentiary.
“Regionalization solves many problems. You also humanize the prison system, since the problem is it has become a mega prison. There is a need to humanize the prisons, to treat inmates as a person and not just a number,” he said, adding that relatives of inmates would also be able to visit their loved ones near their localities, instead of going to the NBP.
Catapang vowed to implement reforms in BuCor and decongest its prison facilities.
Catapang also challenged the inmates to “lead better lives” outside and be law-abiding citizens.
Catapang took the helm of the BuCor last Monday after Gerald Bantag was placed on preventive suspension to pave the way for an impartial investigation on the mysterious death of a Bilibid inmate who allegedly acted as one of the middlemen in the October 3 killing of veteran radio commentator Percival Mabasa, also known as Percy Lapid.
