48 more Bilibid inmates transferred to Leyte prison

THE Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has transferred 48 more Bilibid inmates to the Leyte Regional Prison as part of its continuing effort to decongest the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City prior to its planned closure in 2028.

BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said the 48 were “successfully transferred” to the regional prison in Abuyog, Southern Leyte over the weekend.

Catapang said 23 of the transferred inmates were from the New Bilibid Prison’s (NBP) maximum security, while the rest are from the medium security.

“The continuing transfer of persons deprived of liberty from NBP to other operating prison and penal farm outside of Metro Manila is part of our efforts to decongest the NBP and our preparation for the closure of the national penitentiary by 2028,” Catapang said.

The transfer of the inmates was undertaken Friday by members of the NBP Custodial Force and augmented by elements of the BuCor SWAT team.

Since last year, the BuCor has transferred 2,309 inmates from the NBP and the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City to the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm (IPPF) in Puerto Princesa City, the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) and Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm (SPPF) in Occidental Mindoro.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has said the BuCor prison facilities, including the NBP, have an inmate population of over 50,000 as of January this year, although their total capacity is only around 12,000, or an average congestion rate of 310 percent.

The NBP has an occupancy rate of 477 percent and congestion rate at 377 percent. It has a capacity of only 6,435 inmates but as of June this year, it has an inmate population of 30,701.

Aside from the transfer of inmates from NBP and CIW, the DOJ and BuCor have also fasttracked the release of 7,989 qualified inmates – the elderly and sick, and those who have completed their sentence or paroled – from November 2022 to January 2024.

Part of the BuCor’s decongestion plan also include the building of regional prisons and the transfer of heinous crime convicts to high-tech prison facilities inside three military reservation camps in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.