Western Visayas jails still overcrowded, undermanned

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in jail facilities in Western Visayas are still reeling from overcrowding and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) is facing insufficiency in its authorized manpower.

BJMP-6 director Simeon Dolojo Jr. told Daily Guardian on Tuesday, July 30, that the current congestion rate is 280 percent from last year’s 340 percent. Around 70 to 80 percent of the PDLs were involved in illegal drug activities.

Data showed that there are a total of 9,969 PDLs across more than 40 jail facilities managed by the BJMP in the region, with the Iloilo District Jail-Female Dormitory in Gen. Luna St., City Proper district being the most overcrowded.

BJMP rules specify that the ideal habitable floor area per inmate should be 4.7 square meters, with each cell accommodating a maximum of 10 inmates.

The cells also have to be equipped with no more than five bunk beds, arranged in two levels; and each cell must include one unit for washing utensils and hand washing, one water closet (toilet bowl), and one bath area.

Dolojo has downplayed the figures, emphasizing that the issue of overcrowding will be further alleviated with the construction of a new district jail facility in Leganes, Iloilo, valued at P581 million, and another in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, costing P240 million.

“We are not really seeing a big problem in our congestion rate since the construction of our new jail facilities are continuous,” he added.

He added that several jails are also undergoing rehabilitation and maintenance.

“Hoping that these will be materialized soon and we can transfer our PDLs. We are also positive of the changes because of the continuous support of the national government to our requests,” he said.

The new jail facility in a 2.5-hectare lot in Leganes can accommodate a total of 2,000 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) from Iloilo City, including both male and female populations.

Dolojo also highlighted the problem of personnel strength of BJMP-6.

Currently, 1,796 personnel serve the PDLs, which the BJMP-6 director believes is not sufficient to meet the ideal guard-to-inmate ratio.

He stressed that they need over a thousand personnel to have an increase in the custodial personnel-to-inmate ratio and reformation personnel-to-inmate ratio.

“The BJMP was only given 2,000 recruits per year and that appropriation from the Department of Budget is distributed all throughout the country,” he said.

“For this year, we are given only a slot of 198 and that is only a few recruitment for Western Visayas. When it comes to ratio, it is really not enough,” he added.

To address the manpower deficiency, Dolojo said they are actively recruiting every year and have reached out to schools to encourage more applicants to join their ranks.