BuCor: 70 more prisoners moved to Leyte jail

Seventy more inmates at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City were transferred yesterday to the Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog, Southern Leyte as part of the decongestion program of the national penitentiary.

Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said 50 of the inmates came from the NBP’s Maximum Security Compound while 20 came from the Reception and Diagnostic Center.

Catapang said the continuing transfer of Bilibid inmates to various operating prisons and penal farms is part of BuCor’s decongestion effort and to provide additional workforce for agricultural projects.

As of last month, the agency has transferred more than 4,600 Bilibid inmates to its prison and penal farms in the provinces.

Aside from the NBP, the agency also operates the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog, Leyte; and the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City.

Catapang earlier said the transfer of the Bilibid inmates is a “stop-gap” measure in alleviating overcrowding in the national penitentiary while the agency is waiting for funding for the construction of regional correctional facilities as part of its medium and long-term development and modernization plan.

The NBP and BuCor’s six other operating prison and penal farms hold over 50,000 inmates, although their total capacity is only around 12,000, or an average congestion rate of 310 percent.

The national penitentiary alone currently holds 25,886 inmates, though it only has a 6,000 capacity when it was built.

In a related development, Catapang said he will push for the revival of the construction of corrections facilities in Laur, Nueva Ecija, which were already approved by the regional development council of Central Luzon in 2015 during the administration of president Benigno Aquino III.

Catapang said the approved project, was supposed to be implemented under a public-private partnership involving the construction of the NBP and Correctional Institution for Women inmates on a 500 hectare lot in Laur, Nueva Ecija.