The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) now has personnel to handle the government’s Single Carpeta System (SCS) starting in June this year for easier access to records of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Sunday, May 15.
The SCS, also called the Inmate Management Information System IMIS), is a nationwide comprehensive case monitoring and information system that tracks the progress of cases from one agency to another.
DOJ Undersecretary Deo S. Marco, who supervises BuCor, said the bureau received last May 11 the manpower as well as donations of equipment including scanners and laptops from the Justice Reform Programme: Governance in Justice (GOJUST).
GOJUST is a program funded by the European Union in partnership with the Philippine government. GOJUST website states that it “aims to improve access to justice for all Filipinos in order to contribute to inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development.”
Undersecretary Marco said the DOJ started digitizing five years ago the records of PDLs under SCS for the department’s National Justice Information System (NJIS).
“Once digitized na po ang information, maipapasok na sa IMIS software para mas madali na malaman po ang details ng mga PDL at may access ang mga relevant agencies like BJMP, NBI, Board of Pardons, etc. (Once the information has been digitized, it will be entered into the integrated management information system software so the details about the PDL will be easily known and other government agencies will also have access like the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Board of Pardons),” Marco explained.
BuCor records dated April 11 show that the bureau’s prison facilities nationwide have a total prisoner population of 48,991.