THE Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is considering extending executive clemency to inmates 70 years and older to help decongest the country’s prison facilities, its chief acting Gregorio Catapang Jr. said yesterday.
Catapang said the move is not unprecedented as he noted that former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has issued an executive order allowing the release of elderly prisoners through clemency.
“Noong panahon ni President GMA, may batas siya o executive order na inisyu na lahat ng 70 years old up ay bigyan na ng parole o palayain na kahit papaano kasi sabi nila, 70 years old, hindi na makakaisip ‘yan gumawa ng krimen (During the time of President GMA, there was a law or executive order issued, which said those 70 years old be given parole or be released from prison because somehow, they said, one who is 70 years old would no longer think of committing a crime),” Catapang told radio dzBB Sunday.
He said releasing elderly prisoners would help the bureau decongest not only the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City but the six other prison and penal colonies nationwide under BuCor.
But the move would first undergo a thorough review, Catapang also said.
Last week, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the department is studying a “supervised release” of inmates 65 years and older as part of its policy to decongest the prison and penal colonies under BuCor supervision.
As of October this year, BuCor data showed NBP has an inmate population of 29,204 although it had an intended capacity of only 6,345 when it was constructed in 1940.
The six other BuCor-operated prison and penal colonies experienced a similar congestion problem. These are the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, Leyte Regional Prison, and the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City.
Remulla has vowed to prioritize the decongestion of BuCor prison facilities as the NBP alone was found to have a congestion rate of 330 percent.
He also said regional prisons would be built to do away with the current mega-prison system by 2028.
Remulla said government is planning to transfer the NBP’s maximum security prison to Sablayan in Occidental Mindoro, the medium security prison to Tanay in Rizal, and the minimum security prison to Fort Magsaysay in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija.
Remulla said once their plan to transfer the national penitentiary to the provinces is completed, the NBP complex will be developed into a government center.
