BJMP unveils four new jails to address congestion

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-6 recently inaugurated four newly-constructed jail facilities in Negros Occidental.

Atty. Jairus Anthony Dogelio, spokesperson of BJMP-6, said the construction of these new jails was primarily to address the congested jail population in the province, considering that the province, including Bacolod City, has the most number of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in Western Visayas.

Based on data from BJMP-6, the province, including Bacolod, has 4,780 PDLs, followed by Iloilo with 2,588, Capiz with 411, Antique with 204, Aklan with 146, and Guimaras with 102, with a total of 8,231 in the region.

Dogelio said the national bureau through the Office of the President allocated P220 million for BJMP-6 this year.

He said that most of the funds were utilized for the infrastructures particularly in the province to decongest the jails.

Dogelio said the biggest jail in the province is the Negros Occidental District Jail in Bago City, and the Metro Bacolod District Jail in Barangay Handumanan here, where they also constructed an isolation center for PDLs as part of the protocol amid the pandemic.

Dogelio said the BJMP in the cities of La Carlota, Himamaylan, Sagay, and Escalante inaugurated their new jail facilities this month.

He thanked the local government units for partnering with the BJMP in terms of lot donation to build the jail facilities.