Senate OK’s jail integration bill
THE PHILIPPINE Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to transfer the supervision of provincial jails from local governments to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to ease jail congestion.
Nineteen senators approved Senate Bill 2352, which would give provincial governments three years to turn over control of provincial jails to BJMP, including their compliance with the BJMP’s cleanliness and sanitation requirements.
“By turning over the provincial and sub-provincial jails under the jurisdiction of the BJMP, we shall be giving more freedom to our provincial governments to direct their resources in accordance with their respective priorities,” Senator Ronald “Bato” M. dela Rosa, a former national police chief and the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement.
Local governments would still pay for the food and water expenses of their jails and inmates during the three-year period.
BJMP, an attached agency of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, handles city, district and municipal jails.
Jail employees who wish to quit their jobs during the transition would be entitled to separation benefits, according to the bill.
Many of the country’s jails fail to meet United Nations minimum standards, with Human Rights Watch pointing out inadequate food, poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions. — John Victor D. Ordoñez