Modernization Program on Jail System at Quezon City Jail: An Assessment

Abstract

Jails are popular in the Philippines due to the high crime rate and the war on drugs campaign of the government. The Corrections Pillar performs its task as the safe keeper and undertakes the rehabilitation of offenders and convicted felons. In this study, we surveyed the detainees to assess the current situation in jail the need to modernize and improve on the part of the government. The descriptive method was used as a researchdesign. It attempts to describe and explain the conditions of the present by using many subjects and questionnaires to fully explain a phenomenon. This served as a guide to evaluate the needs of our jail system to upgrade the living condition of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in Quezon City Jail. Regarding the importance of the study in the policy and practice in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) jail facilities, an in-depth study on how the basic needs of inmates can be effectively provided to improve their well-being was conducted. Given that the result of the study showed that “work and livelihood” were ranked the lowest, we recommend that BJMP should provide more systematic work and livelihood programs for PDLs. The income that they can generate from it can be used to augment the shortage on the budget of the PDL’s basic commodities. For future researchers, this is only one study that relied on a relatively small number of PDLs in a single jail facility. While we understand that improving the “shelter/quarter” of the PDL entails budget and further planning from the government and to BJMP, these realities should be faced one step ahead by the concerned. With the ongoing concern on how appalling the PDL’s number vis-à-vis the jail quarters, the modernization program should be prioritized. The BJMP under the Department of Interior and Local Government supervised all provincial, subprovincial, and city jails throughout the Philippines. It houses prisoners whose sentences range from 1 day to3 years and detainees awaiting disposition of their cases. This study focused on the assessment of the modernization program on the jail system at Quezon City Jail. Our findings showed that the Additional Budget for Work and Livelihood Program is one of the lowest in terms of budget allocation, the Work and Livelihood Program also fail as the lowest in terms of reformation program.