The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday said it will be expediting the transfer of detainees with commitment orders to the custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in a bid to decongest overcrowded police station jails.
PNP chief spokesperson Chief Supt. John Bulalacao issued the statement a day after an inmate at the congested jail of the Pasay City Police Station died while seven others were rushed to the hospital after collapsing due to exhaustion and dehydration.
Bulalacao admitted that the PNP now has very limited jail facilities to accommodate the increasing number of those arrested in the ongoing anti-drug campaign.
“Nonetheless, we are doing our best to include in the proposed budget the construction of new police station buildings with improved detention facilities,” Bulalacao said in a statement.
“Meantime, prisoners with commitment orders are already being transferred to BJMP facilities to declog the detention cells of the police stations,” he added.
Bulalacao said police investigators are now closely coordinating with the various courts to expedite the release of commitment orders of convicted inmates and their transfer to BJMP detention facilities, which he said are much bigger than those at police stations.
READ: Heat, congestion blamed for Pasay inmate’s death
Bulalacao has assured that conditions at the detention facilities of the various police stations are expected to improve once the PNP secures more funding for the creation of additional custodial facilities. /muf