THE Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) yesterday said 18,947 inmates have been released since the start of the Marcos administration in 2022.
The figure includes the 525 inmates who were released yesterday as part of BuCor’s overall policy to decongest its prison facilities, including the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said among the 525 released, 27 came from the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City, one from CIW Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm, eight from CIW Mindanao, 71 from Davao Prison and Penal Farm, 52 from Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm, 27 from Leyte Regional Prison, 73 from the NBP’s Maximum Security Camp, 82 from the NBP Medium Security Camp, 81 from the NBP Minimum Security Camp, three from the NBP Reception and Diagnostic Center, 66 from Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm, and 34 from San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm.
Catapang said the reasons for the release included expiring maximum sentences for 412 individuals, acquittals for 68, bail bond for one, expiration of sentence after commutation for one, granted probation for four, habeas corpus for five, 32 paroled, and two turned over to local jails.
At the start of 2022, the NBP and the six other operating prison and penal farms of BuCor held over 52,000 inmates, although their total capacity is only around 12,000, or an average congestion rate of 231 percent.
The national penitentiary alone holds over 28,000 inmates, a far cry from its original capacity of 9,885 when it was built.
To address prison congestion, the Department of Justice, the mother agency of the BuCor, instituted a decongestion program, particularly at the NBP prior to its planned closure in 2028 to be turned into a commercial and business center.
In November last year, the agency said it would need around P211 billion to construct 17 regional prison facilities and three specialized detention institutions across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao to decongest the national penitentiary.