Metro Manila, Philippines – Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said he has been reaching out to provincial governors for possible lands to put up more detention facilities.
In a press conference on Monday, July 15, Catapang said the plan is in line with decongesting jails and prisons.
Official data said jail congestion is at a high 348 percent and prison congestion is not far behind at 321 percent.
“I am proposing to house the provincial jail, the BJMP [Bureau of Jail Management and Penology] jail, and the RDC [Reception and Diagnostic Center] of BuCor in the provincial areas,” Catapang said.
Existing decongestion efforts
The agency has a budget of around P900 million in part to decongest the overcrowded National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
Catapang said at least P200 million was set aside to transfer prisoners inside the NBP maximum security compound to the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro. Another P300 million is for the transfer of detainees at the minimum and medium security compounds to the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan.
“We cannot give more facilities in Muntinlupa inasmuch as – this facility has become so expensive. It’s a prime lot. It has to be converted to something more productive, more for the government center. In fact, the Secretary [of Justice] wants a 100-hectare lot, bigger than Luneta Park [in Manila], so that there would be free space that people can move around,” said Catapang.
Health concerns
Philippine Health Insurance Corp. President Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. cautioned that the volume of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in jails and prisons is “alarmingly high.”
Citing a 2022 Commission on Audit report, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa noted that jail congestion surpassed 100 percent, a factor in the proliferation of upper respiratory tract infection and diseases among PDLs.
To partially address health concerns, a number of government agencies, including the Department of Health and BuCor, have signed a policy that aims to promote health in detention facilities.
Under the joint administrative order, the PDLs will have access to health services through health facilities that will be built in BuCor or in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. This includes building a hospital at Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm.
“Alam n’yo, sa public hospitals sila [PDLs] dinadala at ang nangyayari po, minsan, kinakadena sila du’n sa poste ng bed para hindi sila tumakas while there in the hospital,” Herbosa shared.
[Translation: PDLs are brought to hospitals and sometimes they are tied to bed posts so they cannot escape while in the hospital.]
Official data showed the top 10 causes of PDL deaths in BuCor facilities are:
- myocardial infarction
- pneumonia
- cerebrovascular accident
- acute respiratory failure
- congestive heart failure
- end-stage renal disease
- pulmonary tuberculosis
- cardiogenic shock
- electrolyte imbalance
- upper gastrointestinal bleeding
