PH to build state-of-the-art jail

Justice Sec. Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Thanks to the modern amenities and expanded facilities of the new prison being planned in Nueva Ecija, the current problems hounding the National Bilibid Prisons (NBP), including the special treatment given high-profile inmates, could be a thing of the past, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said.

“We will get rid of that…Because the structures [at the NBP] are dilapidated and there is too much congestion, other inmates are forced to build their own villas because they could not stand the actual condition[s] at the main dorm,” the Justice official said.

The new prison is set to become a state-of-the-art facility and would probably be the biggest in the world in terms of inmate population, De Lima said. It will also have layers of built-in security since it will be located inside a military base, she added.

The planned 27,000-capacity prison facility for Luzon is also the country’s first ever public-private partnership undertaking for the correctional system, the official said at yesterday’s investors’ forum where government invited bidders to file their tenders for the new prison’s Build-Transfer-Maintain contract.

P50-billion project

The P50-billion prison project that will replace the NBP in Muntinlupa and the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, is set for construction from March 2016 to March 2019, and comes with a 20-year agreement for the private partner to maintain it.

“The private contractor will maintain the facility, but only on the physical aspect, so that the Bureau of Corrections can concentrate on its core mandate which is safekeeping and [coming up with] correctional [programs],” De Lima said.

The facility will rise on a 500-ha site within a military reservation at Fort Magsaysay in General Tinio town, Nueva Ecija, upon the donation of the Department of Defense. In a way, the justice chief said, the site comes with built-in security.

“Remember, this is a military reservation, so we can say there is even a parallel or a shadow security to be provided by the military contingent in that reservation.”

‘Flexible modular system’

Based on its initial design, the prison compound will sit on a 170-ha area, with a total of 12 blocks divided into eight units under a “flexible modular system,” said project consultant Johan Gauderis.

Each block can house 2,240 inmates, with each convict given two square meters of space, Gauderis said. Amenities include a catering area, laundry, medical and morgue facilities and waste treatment.

As part of the project, bungalow-type and condominium-type housing facilities will be constructed for the estimated 4,500 jail guards and correctional officers who will man the prison, Gauderis said in his presentation at the forum.

De Lima said the facility’s design also aims to ensure segregation and classification of inmates “based on needs and risks.”

The current 300-ha NBP, where some 27,000 inmates are being held, will be sold for commercial use, except for some 50 to 60 hectares that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will retain.

De Lima said the remaining lot will be set aside for a DOJ Academy, a training facility for National Bureau of Investigation agents, immigration, correctional and prosecution officials.