Jails under BJMP literally bursting with prisoners due to drug campaign
Detention facilities of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology are congested by more than 500 percent of its capacity a month after President Rodrigo Duterte's war on illegal drugs started.
There are 111,786 prisoners inside 463 jails of the BJMP across the country at end- July according to the agency's latest statistics.
Of the number, 113,448 are pre-trial detainees while the remaining 2,338 were sentenced by courts but have yet to be transferred to prisons of the Bureau of Corrections under the Department of Justice.
With an ideal capacity of 18,881 prisoners, the congestion rate is 513.24 percent. It significantly increased from 93,961 detainees as of April this year where the congestion rate was 397.65 percent.
Each prisoner has a budget of P50 a day for their food from morning until evening.
This means the standard space of 4.7 square meters for each prisoner is not followed in the Philippines. Emmanuel Tupas
Guards manning jails are overwhelmed in securing a large number of prisoners with only limited manpower of only 11,685 officers and personnel.
BJMP spokesperson Chief Inspector Xavier Solda said the sudden increase happened after Duterte took office on June 30.
"We have prisoners who were detained for other offenses but majority are because of illegal drugs," Solda said over the phone.
And with congestion comes numerous respiratory and skin diseases, such as tuberculosis and rashes.
Duterte won the Philippine presidential election on a campaign promise of eliminating drug syndicates in the country. The death toll in the government's crackdown is over 2,000 while the number of drug suspects arrested are 12,923.
The most congested jail is the Baliuag municipal jail which only has a capacity of four prisoners for a floor area of 45 square meters should only have four prisoners but it's current population is 115, a congestion rate of 3,079 percent.
Completing the top four are Malolos City Jail, also in Bulacan with 155 detainees instead of only 6, Quezon City Jail with 714 instead of 27, Dagupan City Jail in Pangasinan with 991 detainees compared to its capacity of 39 and the Lucena City Jail in Quezon province with 163 instead of only six.
The BJMP is looking to hire around 2,000 personnel next year but admitted it's not enough given the large number of prisoners they are guarding.
Twenty jails are now being built where 213 prisoners could be transferred next year. Emmanuel Tupas
