Congestion rate drops by 18% in BJMP-run jails in 2022
By Chito Chavez
The congestion rate in all the jails run by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) across the country has dropped by 18 percent in 2022.
In a statement, BJMP chief Jail Director Allan Iral said that from the 386 percent annual average rate in 2021, it went down to 368 percent in 2022.
He attributed the decongestion the additional spaces created from newly constructed facilities and the plea-bargaining agreement among persons deprived of liberty (PDL) involved in drug-related offenses.
"Our priority is to build more jail spaces at the most congested facilities while we intensify our paralegal efforts to decongest our jails," Iral said.
In October, the BJMP operationalized its first jail-based drug rehabilitation facility to provide specialized care to the drug-affected sector of its PDL population.
Records disclosed that an average of 6,288 PDLs per month, or 10 percent of the average monthly jail population of 130,138 PDLs, were released through plea-bargaining.
The BJMP vowed to maintain zero overstaying PDLs in all of its 478 facilities nationwide.
Safe and secured facilities
The BJMP reported an improvement in the results of its safekeeping functions citing that jail escape incidents have dropped significantly by 30.7 percent compared to the incidents in 2021.
“Only nine escape incidents were recorded with a 100 percent recovery rate,’’ the BJMP noted.
The BJMP also reported that 250,688 OPLAN Greyhound Operations were conducted in its 478 jails nationwide.
PDL reformation
“Our welfare and development programs were able to serve our PDL, focusing on spiritual, emotional, mental, physical, and social well-being,” Iral said.
This year, the BJMP stated that a total of 57,272 PDLs have benefited from the livelihood program of the BJMP, which supports the handiwork and craftsmanship of the inmates while providing them with opportunities to earn income for their families.
“Also, about 19,000 PDLs have benefitted from the Alternative Learning System (ALS) program of the BJMP through the “Tagapangalaga Ko, Guro Ko” Program. Of this number, 2, 499 PDLs graduated from elementary; 3, 414 in junior high school; and 2, 395 in senior high school,’’ Iral said.
While its tertiary education counterpart, the College Behind Bars program, has also produced six college graduates at the Davao City Jail PDLs.
A total of 84 PDLs are currently enrolled in the program.
On health and wellness, the BJMP continues to provide quality medical and dental services to the PDL and instituted measures to contain and mitigate the spread of the SARS-COV2 virus.
As of Dec. 30, a total of 99.81 percent of the 21,003 personnel and 93.79 percent of the 129,213 PDL population have received their full doses of vaccines while 85.32 percent of the personnel and 80.99 percent of the PDLs have received their booster shots.