The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) launched on Tuesday, March 14, a program that aims to rehabilitate persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) under its custody through the library educational system.

Dubbed as the “Read Your Way Out: Advancing Prison Reform through Libraries for Lifelong Learning in Places of Detention”, the program was made in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC.

In a statement, the BJMP explained that the project will support the creation of new jail libraries and the provision of books and equipment, with the overall aim to provide learning opportunities for personal development, well-being, and, ultimately, rehabilitation of persons deprived of liberty (PDL).

In addition, the BJMP noted that it aims to incorporate reading activities as one of the options for the PDLs to earn Time Allowance for Study, Teaching, and Mentoring (TASTM).

The TASTM reduces the time of sentences of the PDLs thereby facilitating the jail decongestion, through early release coupled with rehabilitation grounded in improved education and vocational skills.

“Jail libraries shall be composed of 20 percent legal resources, 30 percent vocational resources, 40 percent fiction and non-fiction and 10 percent children books for family visitors,’’ the BJMP noted.

To implement the said project, a technical working group (TWG) was constituted composed of officials from the BJMP and the UNODC with the National Library of the Philippines (NLP) also included as part of the group for the purposes of providing their technical expertise in terms of library management.

“The TWG have identified 13 jail recipients from all over the Philippines. They will be provided with books and the necessary basic equipment to build their respective libraries and to complement if one is already established. These libraries are scheduled to be launched in March 2023,’’ it added.

The creation of libraries in jails and prisons is inspired by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which ensures the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”.

The same is reiterated by the Nelson Mandela Rules, in rule 64 which specifically says that every prison shall have a library for the use of all categories of prisoners, adequately stocked with both recreational and instructional books, and prisoners shall be encouraged to make full use of it.

The launching ceremony was participated in by key government officials and stakeholders through the knowledge-sharing sessions by experts in the field of establishing jail libraries as well as by advocates for lifelong learning in jails.

Among the resource speakers are Lisa Krolak, chief librarian, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Lifelong Learning; Marie Macauley, Programme Specialist, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning; Jane Garner, Lecturer, the Charles Sturt University, Wagga, Australia; Beatrice Montariol, Project Development Consultant, Sipar Org, Cambodia; Professor Elenice Onofre, Department of Pedagogical Theories and Practices and the Graduate Program in Education of the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil; Preeya Jumnongbut Intiyot, Penologist, at the Department of Corrections, Ministry of Justice, Thailand and Padma Bandaranayake, Director, National Library of Sri Lanka.

Present in the event were the Head of UNODC Philippines Office, Olivier Lermet, along with other representatives from UNODC Regional Offices from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Manila.