BuCor frees 565 inmates in June

Facade of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), with sign of Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). Image from the BuCor website

The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has freed 565 inmates last month—the highest among all June releases since 2018.

Based on the data from the BuCor’s Inmate Documents and Processing Division released on Thursday, 209 of the newly freed inmates have served their maximum sentence after the application of their good conduct time allowance (GCTA).

Another 168 were acquitted by the court in their cases; 67 were granted parole and another 67 served their maximum sentence without GCTA.

Fifty-one of those released were “returnees,” or those among the more than 2,000 ordered by President Duterte in September 2019 to surrender because of the improper application of the GCTA law, or Republic Act No. 10592, passed in 2013.Two inmates were allowed to be release after being granted postconviction bail, while another one was put under probation.

Majority of those recently granted freedom were from New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa at 320, followed by those from Davao Prison and Penal Farm at 107.

Other released inmates were from Correctional Institution for Women (73); San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga (31); Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro (14); Leyte Regional Prison (14); and Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan (six).

There were 102 more inmates who were also due for release but whose prison records were still being reviewed. If the BuCor found no other legal cause for their further detention, these inmates’ release papers shall be processed for approval of BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag.The number of inmates released in June was the highest among the same periods for the past four years.

In June last year, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the BuCor released only 127 inmates, based on its records. In June 2019, 522 inmates were freed, while in June 2018, 412 were released.

The BuCor said it was expediting the release of inmates to decongest its overcrowded facilities. INQ