Baseline Study on the Philippine Penal Conditions: Nurturing o Human Rights Based Approach to Penal Management
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engagement with the other penal agencies of the country. For example, most Bl detainees are transferred
to the BuCor prisons prior to their deportation to their countries of origin, and most insurgents and
terrorists, who were initially held in AFP holding cells, are transferred to the BJMP Jails I Provincial Jails
and BuCor prisons. Additionally, the long duration of the trial process, w here it t akes years for a case to
be decided upon by the local courts, inadvertently turns the Bl and AFP Det ention Centers into longterm places of incarceration, which make them indistinguishable from the other "detention facilities" ,
" jails", and "prisons."
In summary, there must be a conscious effort to distinguish between " detention centers", "jails", and
"prisons" . Lumping them together in one category betrays their differences in terms of mandates, type
of inmates under their care, and the department or bureau having superv ision over them. Grouping
them together also presupposes that the standards, policies, procedures, and practices are similar
between and among agencies, which, in fact, they are not, and still to be desi red. W hile there are some
similarities, especially in the type of structural problems they face and the informal practices that had
evolved through time, the penal facilities, even within a particular agency, are unique. For example,
the conditions, dynamics, and cultural practices of the Quezon City Jail is quite different from those
emerging in the Manila City Jail. even if both facilities are managed by the BJMP.
TABLE 2. Penal agencies, their specific clients, and prescribed and actual length of stay 8
Dutybearers
Type of PDLs
Prescribed length
of stay
Average length of stay;
maximum recorded
Philippine National Police
Inmates under investigation
36 hours
One months; two years
National Bureau
of Investigation
Inmates under Investigation
36 hours
Three months; three years
Philippine Drug Enforcement
Agency
Inmates under investigation
36 hours
One month; 6 months
Bureau of Immigration
Foreign nationals in conflict
with Philippine laws
Until the case is decided
upon by the courts
8 months; three years
Armed Forces of the Philippines
Charged with security offense
Until case is decided upon
by the courts
No data
Bureau of Jail Management
and Penology
Bureau of Jail Management
and Penology Inmates
undergoing trial and those
sentenced with 3 years and
below
Until the case is decided
by the courts and/ or service of sentence
1 year and 5 months; 19 years
Provincial Governments
Inmates undergoing trial and
those sentence with 3 years
and below
Until the case is decided
by the courts and/ or service of sentence
No data
Bureau of Corrections
Inmates convicted with a
penalty of more than three
years
Upon service of sentence
12 years; 40 years
--
Data collected by the author from various workshops, focus group discussion , and documentary reviews. See for example, Narag Report on the conditions
of the Bureau of Corrections submitted to the Department of Justice (2014).
11