Baseline Study on the Philippine Penal Conditions: Nurturing a Human Right5 Based Approach to Penal Management ·······································································································································································································································• City Jail, which has an ideal capacity of 6 inmates, but currently holds 146 inmates, recording a congestion rate of 2,441%. The population of the BJMP is projected to grow as more inmates with drug cases fill up newly constructed makeshift cells, and as the length of criminal trial continues to grind slowly. Most inmates under trial in the National Capital Region, for example, have an average stay in jail of 1 year and 5 months. 14 Coupled with the generally low interest among local city councils and national congress on the construction of new jails, this jail population will worsen in the next few years and will constitute a humanitarian crisis. 15 Ordinary cell crowding that characterizes local jails and prisons Provincial Jail conditions vary widely based on the involvement of their respective Provincial Governments. Some Provincial Governments have taken an active stand on the construction of new Provincial Jails, while other provinces are either too resource-deficient to construct a new one or do not consider construction of jail facilities a priority. Given that there is no national government agency that regularly monitors the administration and operation of the Provincial Jails, there are hardly any national data on the total number of inmates and the total capacity of all the provincial jails. Individual provincial jail conditions, however, do suggest that they resemble the overcrowded conditions of the BJMP jails, if not worse off. The PNP Detention Centers are generally small facilities constructed as appendages to Police Station Precincts. Most PNP Detention Centers are two-cell facilities, designed to separate the male from the female detainees. The level of crowding in the PNP Detention Centers is cyclical and varies based on the number of arrests and the transfers to jail facilities in a particular week. On average, how ever, most PNP Detention Centers are full to the brim. Additionally, PNP d etention centers do not have any spaces for visiting, recreation, and inmate programming. Inmates in the PNP Detention Centers sleep, eat, accept visitors, and do their day-to-day chores in the same cell. 16 The NB! , PDEA, Bl and AFP maintain a limited number of Detention Cente rs/ Holding Centers and are comparatively more spacious compared to PNP Detention Centers. However, facilities in each of the aforementioned agencies are all still below the minimum standards for the treatment of PDLs. Most cells are multi-occupancy cells, inmates are not individually provided with bed bunks, and there are limited spaces for visiting, recreation, and inmate programming. Ironically for the NB!, the relatively better conditions it affords, at least, compared to the PNP and BJMP cells, compels its inmates to delay their transfer from the NB! Detention Center. Some inmates in the NB! Detention Center stay as long as three years, contributing to overcrowding. PDEA Detention Centers are newly constructed, since the PDEA, as a government agency, is also new. However, the number of arrests made by its agents is kee ping the inmate population way more than the ideal capacity, and, if not addressed, it w ill soon resemble the PNP and NB! Detention Centers. The Bl Detention Center caters to foreign national s that are in conflict 14 Documentary review made by the author on six (6) jails in Metro Manila on one particular day in October 2015. lS BJMP Annual Report, 2015. An analysis of the yearly population growth s uggests t hat t he BJMP inmate population will exceed 100,000 before end of 16 2016. A recent Inspection by the Comm ission on Human Right s of the Philippines (CHRP) of detention centers in Metro Manila conducted In April 2015 documents these conditions. See: A study of the Huma n Rights situation in Police lock-up cells in t he National Capital Region (2015). 13