MANILA – Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla announced that newly sentenced persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) will not be jailed at New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City to contain the violent culture that has plagued the congested national penitentiary for decades.
Those sentenced to less than six years in prison will be directed instead to other provincial, municipal and city jails.
“Let’s not enculturate a bad culture on a person… Let’s spare them from the travails of having to go through an institution like the NBP,” Remulla said on Friday.
Prospective locations are Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm, Davao Prison and Penal Farm, and Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm.
Remulla also bared plans to “scuttle” the NPB to smaller units to help reform inmates.
“Bilibid is a different subculture. If you look at it, it’s a story unto itself, has its own language, has its own way of doing business [and] has its own rules,” Remulla said in an interview on ANC’s Headstart.
“The culture is really different inside that’s why we have been pushing for the scuttling of this mass prison or the mega prison that we have because it has dehumanized our prison population,” he added.
Hence, the Justice secretary said that the DOJ has been searching for funding and has already talked with several local government unit leaders who expressed willingness to host regional prisons. (Jacob Lazaro, Philippine Daily Inquirer)
