ENGLCOM C36B Prison Colonies as Solution for Prison Overpopulation
Prison Overpopulation remains to be an unresolved problem that the Philippines is facing and which has been facing since 2000. Yet we have never heard about it being solved. The news or the media in general do not usually report on this issue because the government has never come up with a plausible and lasting solution to this problem, thus people are unaware of the appalling nature our prison inmates are facing inside our penitentiaries. Overcrowding is the main concern for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) which has administrative control over the country’s 1,132 city, district and municipal jails. According to the Bureau, the nationwide jail population rose from about 35,000 in 2000 to more than 58,000 in 2009, with estimates reaching as high as 72,934 in 2012. Congestion is highest in the New Bilibid Prison, which is one of the 24 overcrowded prisons in the NCR region, the prison maintains 65% of the total prison population (National Survey of Inmates and Institutional Assessment). The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) recommends the use of a four square meters per person measurement of a cell for an acceptable level of crowding. The cells in the New Bilibid prison measures at most 6 square meters, more than enough for a single person but not quite enough for two if the international standards are to be based upon. Overcrowded prisons like New Bilibid prison confines as much as 4 to 5 people into a cell designed for single occupancy. These conditions can lead to a host of psychological and physical problems of whose effects can hamper the inmates reintegration to normal civilian life upon their
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