Baseline Study on the Philippine Penal Conditions: Nurturing a Human Rights Based Approach to Penal Management ·······································································································································································································································• United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (The Bangkok Rules) (2010) The rules recognize 'the need to provide global standards with regard to the treatment of women offenders and prisoners, and taking into account a number of relevant resolutions adopted by different United Nations bodies, which called upon Member States to respond appropriately to the needs of women offenders and prisoners' (Preamble) United Nations Standard Minimum Rul es forthe Treatment of Prisoners (The Nelson Mandela Rules) (2015) 'The revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (t he Nelson Mandela Ru les) were adopted unanimously in December 2015 by the UN General Assembly and set out the minimum standards for good prison management, including to ensure the rights of prisoners are respected. The Nelson Mandela Rules are not entirely new, but an updated version of the 1955 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMRs). The Rules were revised in eight substantive areas to reflect standards that have emerged in correctional science and human rights since 1955.' (Penal Reform International, 2016) Ill. The Philippine Penal A2encies T IS common misnomer to lump all the penal facilities in the Philippi nes into one category. When laypersons and the media refer to "prisons", "jails", and "detention centers", t hey usually talk of places of inca rceration (kulungan, presohan, bi/ibid) and consider them as the same entities. As such, when a raid happens in the Maximum Security Co mpound in the New Bilibid Prison, and the raiding team discovers the presence of a luxurious kubo/ w ith a Jacuzzi, laypersons and m edia usually jump into a conclusion that the nearby City Jail also harbors inmates w ith such amenities. Little do they know t hat City Jails are managed and run by a different governmental department and bureau. This lack of understanding on the intricacies of the penal system suggests that solutions proposed to the identified problems may not be appropriate. As such, this study starts by delineating the different agencies involved in the penal work by describing the nature of their mandat es, the type of clients under their care, and t he different agencies that have supervision over their work. I A good starting point is the fact that t here are multiple government agencies that have penal mandates. The most popular and the oldest penal agency is the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) w hich is administratively superv ised by the Depa rtment of Justice (DOJ). The BuCor supervises t he administration and operation of seven (7) national prisons o r pena l farm s w ith a total population of 41,000 PDLs as of January, 2016. 4 PD Ls under the care of t he BuCor are those who are convicted and meted a sent ence ranging from three years to life imprisonment, and thus called "national prisoners". BuCor prisons are therefore d esigned for long-term confinement. The New Bilibid Prison (NB P) is the BuCor's flagship facility and is located in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila. The NBP has a population of 22,000 inmates making it the biggest mega-pr ison complex in the worl d. 5 The NBP has a Maximum Security Compound, a Medium Security Compound, and a Minimum Security Compound. The Maximum Security Compound of t he NBP is t he biggest single penal facility with a population of 12,000 inmates. NB P's proximity to maj or news dailies makes it a favorite source of revelations on the bizarre practices that happen inside Philippine prisons. Most o f the common perceptions about life in prison thus emanate from the stories The seven Prisons and Pena l fa rms include t he New Bilibid Prison, Correctional Institution for Women, lwahig Prison and Penal Farm , Davao Penal Colony, San Ramon Pr ison and Penal Farm , Sa blayan Prison and Penal Far m. and the Leyte Regional Prison. A Correctional Institution for Women-Mindanao is a component un it of the Davao Pe nal Colony. The BuCor populat ion (2016) was provided by the Office of the BuCor Deputy Director for Reformation. The biggest mega-prison currently existing in t he United States Is the Rikers Island jail complex with a population of 10,000 Inmates. The biggest megapr ison that existed in Latin America wa s t he Carandiru prison with a popu lation of 8,000 inmat es. This prison was eventually closed down after a massacre of 111 inmates in 1992. The Bangkwang prison in Thailand has 8,000 i nmates a nd is considered one of the biggest prisons in terms of population in Asia. 9