New jails sought to address prison overcrowding

SAGIP Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta. (Sagip)

A House resolution pushing for the creation of additional detention facilities in the country to address overcrowding in penitentiaries has been filed.

House Joint Resolution 17, filed by House Deputy Speaker and SAGIP Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, was referred to the House committee on justice during the plenary session last 19 September.

“Whereas, it is the sense of the Senate and the House of Representatives that additional detention facilities should immediately be constructed to address the current abject overcrowding in the Philippine Jail System,” the resolution states.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) has recorded a congestion rate of 394 percent following the release of 58,000 inmates with minor criminal offenses under Republic Act 10592 or the Good Conduct Time Allowance law.

According to the BJMP, as of 15 September, around 134,549 persons deprived of liberty are detained in 476 jails nationwide. This translates to a congestion rate of 394 percent, lower as compared to the congestion rate in 2018.

Marcoleta said the resolution should be prioritized amid the war on drugs which remains to be the flagship program of the Duterte administration.

“There is a need for additional detention facilities and the government should have it as a priority project since it is directly related to its campaign against illegal drugs,” he said.