ILOILO CITY – Jails in Western Visayas remain overcrowded despite registering a lower congestion rate of 280 percent in the first six months of this year.

THE construction of a new jail facility is underway in Leganes town, Iloilo province. (BJMP-6)

According to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-6, there are 9,969 inmates incarcerated across 40 jails in the region.

“But this is lower than the 340 percent congestion rate in 2023,” said Jail Chief Supt.  Simeon Dolojo Jr., BJMP-6 regional director.

Ideally, each cell should only accommodate a maximum of 10 inmates with 4.7-square meters of space for each inmate.

But that is not the case in the 41 jails being operated by the BJMP in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod.

Dolojo attributed the overcrowding to the continuous anti-drug operations as a maximum of 80 percent of inmates are locked up for drug-related charges.

The BJMP-6 has already started to address the overcrowding with construction of new jail facilities.

“We are constructing one in Leganes town, Iloilo and will start construction for another one in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental next year,” said Dolojo at this week’s Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-6.

The facility being constructed in Leganes is designed to accommodate 2,000 male and female inmates from neighboring Iloilo City.

Aside from more jail facilities, BJMP-6 is also looking to recruit additional personnel. The BJMP-6 only has 1,769 personnel across 41 jails in Western Visayas.