Duterte to build ’chalets’ for inmates

To help ease prison congestion in the country, President Duterte on Wednesday said he wanted to build “chalets” for the growing number of  inmates, most of whom are in jail because of his war on drugs.

Speaking at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) 26th anniversary in Quezon City, Mr. Duterte pointed out that he built “chalets” for women inmates in Davao City when he was still the mayor there.

“I can brag here and now. You should visit Davao. Look at the prison for women,” he told jail officials at the BJMP anniversary.

“I built several … like chalets … in different colors. If you are inside, you wouldn’t think it’s a prison,” he added.

The President said he had obtained a vacant lot from the then Department of Transportation and Communication and partnered with Gawad Kalinga to build the small houses.

“There’s a high wire around the entire compound. But inside, it’s really houses… That is what I want to do,” Mr. Duterte said.

Most congested in world

BJMP Director Serafin Barretto earlier said Philippine jails were the most congested in the world with those swept up in the war on drugs accounting for an overwhelming majority of the inmates.

He said the BJMP jail population, as of May 31, stood at 140,209, with a congestion rate of 574 percent.

The figure indicates the Philippines has overtaken 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 Mr. Duterte launched his war on drugs.

Of the 140,209 BJMP inmates in late May, 67.12 percent or 94,109 inmates were facing drug-related charges. Two months before, BJMP inmates with drug cases numbered 87,247.

He said the BJMP was finding it hard to find vacant lots, especially in urban areas, that the agency could acquire to build prisons.