Baseline Study on the Philippine Penal Conditions: Nurturing a Human Rights Based Approach to Penol Monogement ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Structural reforms, however, are more long-shot as they require involvement of many sectors. Congress must pass new laws and apportion additional budget to the penal sector. Local provincial governments must provide fiscal assistance to the Provincial Jails. Cultural reforms, on the other hand, are more challenging as they require change in the mindset of the penal personnel. Asking penal officers to be professional, incorruptible, and honest is very difficult in a working environment where they are overworked and paid pitifully. Organizational reforms, on the other hand, are the easiest to introduce. Penal officers must be introduced to the basic principles of effective penal management, which is currently alien to many of them. By understanding these principles, penal managers will comprehend what structural deficits they had been lacking and how their coping mechanisms led to their current practices. They will also comprehend how the current penal culture had undermined their formal power and authority. As such, while reforms are needed simultaneously in the three areas, this guidebook prioritizes the discussion of the principles of effective penal management. a. Domains of Effective Penal Management This section describes the key domains of effective penal management. These include inmate classification , inmate housing, inmate programming, and documentation and assessment of inmate behaviors. These different domains are integrated and, though discussed separately, constitute a holistic process. Delineating these domains will provide guidance on how the Detention Centers, Jails, and Prisons achieve uniformity in standards, policies, procedures, and practices. By incorpo rating these key domains, the different agencies can benefit from the actions of other agencies, eliminate the transfer of dysfunctions from an agency to another agency, and produce a coherent penal system. It is a lso argued that observing these key domains will translate in the humane treatment of PDLs that is compliant to Human Rights standards. While Detention Centers (PNP, NBI, PDEA, Bl, and AFP) may argue that some of the correctional domains are beyond their scope as law enforcement agencies, the absence of a cohere nt strategy in the Detention Centers spells trouble for Ja ils and Prisons. 25 As such, it is advisable that Dete ntion Centers must be in congruence with the overall sta ndard, policy, procedures, and practices of the BJMP Jails and Provincial Jails, and BuCor Prisons. In this context. penal inst itutions (detention centers, jails and prisons) are also referred to as "correctiona l institutions" with the overall aim of safe custody and effective rehabilitation a nd reintegration of the inmates. b. Inmate Classification The first key domain is proper inmate classification. Inmate classification is the first step in the safe custody, successful rehabilitation, a nd reintegration of inmates. This applies to Detention Centers, Jails, and Prisons. Inmate classification entails theoretically sound criteria. Current lite rature suggests that inmates must be classified based on the principles of Risk, Needs, and Responsivity (RNR). 26 Inmate classification must be done immediately upon receipt of an inmate in a facil ity. As such inmate classification comes hand in ha nd with Inmate Reception and Orientation. 25 26 In fact, Jails can also make the argument that they are not correctional institutions but rather law enforcement institutions. PDLs i n jails are undergoing trial, and are thus legally presumed innocent. Subjecting inmates to undergo "rehabilitation" programs may imply that they are legally guilty. It is for this reason that the BJMP prefers to call its "rehabilitation office• as "Inmates Welfare and Development' which is more generic and does not presume guilt of inmates. However, due to the pragmatic reason that inmates in Jails stay longer than t he ideal, and that inmates with a sentence of less than t hree years are mandated by law to stay in jail, this guidebook takes the position t hat it is for the inmates· and the institutions' benefit that i nmate programs are offered. The RNR principles and practices were developed by Canadian correctionalists James Bonta and D.A. Andrews and their colleagues. See Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (2006). The psychology of criminal conduct {4th ed.). Newark, NJ: LexisNexis. These principles have been accepted by many correctional workers and scholars all over the world. 21