OVERCROWDING in jails being administered by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology has improved to 397 percent from 606 percent in 2007 but the situation is still far from ideal, according to BJMP spokesman Chief Insp. Xavier Solda.
In an online briefing, Solda said 470 jails under BJMP control throughout the country are intended to accommodate 36,360 inmates or persons deprived of liberties.
But he said these jails are currently housing 121,895 inmates, 68,058 of whom are facing drug-related cases.
“The BJMP admits that the congestion of our facilities is really our biggest problem. If we are going to look at our data in 2017, the national congestion rate is at 606 percent,” said Solda, adding the rate improved to 403 percent as of December last year.
“There is also a decrease this year. As of today, the congestion rate is at 397 percent,” added Solda, noting the BJMP is putting up facilities to address the problem.
Under the National Building Code, Solda said each inmate should be allotted a space of 4.7 square meters. He said, however, that five inmates are currently occupying that space.
“We should be able to create a space of 572,907 square meters (to solve the congestion problem) and the current cell area of our jail facilities is at 170,892 square meters,” he said.
“So, the BJMP has a long way to go when it comes to the construction of additional spaces, that is of course with the support from the national government and local government units,” he said.
Solda said top three highly congested facilities of the BJMP are the San Mateo Jail in Rizal, Dasmarinas City Jail in Cavite, and Cainta Municipal Jail in Rizal.
The San Mateo Jail currently housing 643 current inmates has a congestion rate of 2,648 percent while Dasmarinas (1,191) and Cainta (647) have congestion rates of 2,139 percent and 2,072 percent, respectively.
He also said the San Mateo Jail, located near a river, needs to be moved to another location because inmates have to be evacuated whenever the river overflows.
Solda said limited budget allocation from the government is one of the factors why the BJMP has yet to solve the congestion problem.
“All the sectors of the government are putting efforts to address congestion, but we can only do so much with the resources that we have,” said Solda.
Solda also said there is a need for a reintegration program because newly released inmates often feel they are not welcome in communities, often forcing them to commit another crime so they will return to the jails where they see a “sense of belongingness.”
