Baseline Study on the Phifippine Penal Conditions: Nurturing a Human Rights Based Approach to Penal Management ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ least 2,000 inmates. The BuCor likewise does not have a uniform policy: some prison facilities employ a concentration approach (example, the Maximum Security Compound of the NBP), while others utilize a dispersal approach (example, the Medium Security Compound of the NBP). The presence of the pangkat likewise put a dent on the classification schemes w hich eventually modifi es the implementation of needs-based rehabilitation programs. Overall, pe nal officers are hindered in attaining their goals of providing a safe custody for inmates and preparing inmates for their eventual release as responsible citizens of the country. Penal facilities are afflicted with structural deficiencies like lack of facilities and space, personnel, and operational resou rces. These structural deficiencies violate the human rights of both inmates and pe rsonnel and need to be immediately addressed. Additionally, these structural deficie ncies induce the formation of informal penal practices like the use of tarima and kubol, reliance on inmate mayores for custodial, rehabilitation, and admini strative functions, and dependence on inmate and volunteer resources to keep the penal facility running. These informal practices have short-term benefits in terms of running the day-to day operations of the penal facilities, but it has long-term negative effects on the administration of justice. These informal set-ups spaw ned the formation of pangkat which have come to dictate the nature and dynamics of penal management. The unbridled use o f the informal practices also leads to corruption, drug use, and violence. In bigger jails a nd prisons, pangkats tend to v ie for pow er and profit and compete against each other. It has been noted that some penal officers, be it jail or priso n guards, have become affiliated with pangkats, in order to partake in the financial gains that are generated in the illicit jail o r prison trades. While there are variations in the extent in which a facility has succumbe d to such informal penal practices. overall , the penal facilities have become harmful institutions. The human rights of the inmates and jail and prison guards, alike, a re systematically v iolated. An inmate bastonero {cell disciplinarian) administers a takal to an inmate who violated cell rules. 19