THE Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the De La Salle Santiago Zobel School (DLSZ) signed a memorandum of agreement yesterday for the reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.
BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said under the MOA, inmates will receive social and civic services from the faculty members, staff, and students of DLZS.
“This will further enhance the personal well-being and character of our persons deprived of liberty through facilitation of social interactions, seminars, workshops and training,” Catapang said in a statement.
“This program will go a long way because it will inculcate values in life that it doesn’t pay to commit crime and involves spiritual values needed by our PDLs while inside our corrections facilities,” he added.
DLSZ Senior Vice President Rafael Javier Reloza said they are committed to uplifting the lives of the youth, families, and those in need such as the inmates under the care of BuCor.
“The DLSZ Action Center has been engaged in a volunteer service program which seeks to assist communities and other institutions towards social development as an embodiment of the mission of our founder, St; John Baptist de La Salle,” Relloza said.
The New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa and BuCor’s six other operating prison and penal farms in the country hold over 50,000 inmates, although their total capacity is only around 12,000, or an average congestion rate of 310 percent.
The national penitentiary alone currently holds 25,886 inmates, though originally it only had a 6,000 capacity when it was built.
