What EJKs? Jails bursting, says BJMP

Inmates sleep on the ground of an open basketball court inside the Quezon City jail at night in Manila in this picture taken on July 19, 2016. There are 3,800 inmates at the jail, which was built six decades ago to house 800, and they engage in a relentless contest for space. Men take turns to sleep on the cracked cement floor of an open-air basketball court, the steps of staircases, underneath beds and hammocks made out of old blankets. AFP FILE PHOTO

Philippine jails are the most congested in the world, with those swept up in President Duterte’s bloody war on drugs accounting for an overwhelming majority of inmates, the head of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) said on Wednesday.

“In the whole world, we have the highest congestion rate,” BJMP Director Serafin Barretto said in a media briefing in Quezon City.

Barretto said Philippine jails currently have a congestion rate of 558 percent, higher than that of Haiti.

The University of London’s Institute for Criminal Policy Research had ranked Haiti as having the most congested jails in the world with an “occupancy level” of 454.4 percent, based on 2015 data.

Barretto said the spike in the Philippines’ prison population began last year after the President launched his war on drugs.

“Last year, we had 98,000 inmates but now, we have almost 140,000 inside,” Barretto said.

“And if the current trend continues, it could reach 200,000. The police are zealous (in going after drug suspects),” he added.

The most congested prison in the country can be found in Biñan, Laguna, Barretto said.

He said the Biñan City Jail was built to accommodate only 22 inmates but it currently houses 602, or a congestion rate of 2,635 percent.

Besides Biñan, the other highly congested jails in the country are the Cabuyao City Jail (with a congestion rate of 2,516 percent), Navotas City Jail (2,267 percent), Imus City Jail (2,215 percent), and Sta. Rosa City Jail (2,212 percent).

Drug offenders

Barretto said that out of the BJMP’s 135,052 inmates (as of March 31), 87,247, or about 65 percent, faced drug charges.

“That is why we don’t believe that (drug suspects) are being killed (extrajudicially) because so many are being arrested,” he said.

“There are around 10,000 more who are being held in police stations and have not been turned over to us,” he added.

In some of the BJMP’s 466 jails, particularly in urban areas, drug offenders made up 75 percent up to 80 percent of inmates.

Their most common offences were illegal possession of dangerous drugs and maintenance of a drug den, said BJMP public information chief Senior Insp. Xavier Solda.

Solda said BJMP jails held inmates with offenses carrying penalties of up to three years in prison and those whose cases were still being heard in court.

To decongest its jails, the BJMP had set aside P1.6 billion to build new prisons, but the agency was having difficulty finding land, especially in urban areas, Solda said.

He said BJMP paralegal officers were also helping inmates to hasten the disposition of their cases.

“We also remind the inmates that their good conduct time allowance would allow their early release if they behave inside,” Solda added.