Still no transfer of detainees to local jails or BuCor until September 30 —SC

The Supreme Court's Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) has extended the suspension of transfers of newly-arrested persons to local jails or of convicted detainees to the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to prevent the further transmission of COVID-19. 

Two circulars suspending the issuance of commitment orders to local jails or to the BuCor are extended until September 30, Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said in a new circular. 

Marquez said the extension is in view of the different levels of community quarantine that remain imposed in the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The suspension of the issuance of commitment orders for newly-arrested persons or convicted inmates was originally scheduled to last until August 31. 

Under the first circular, newly-arrested persons should remain in the custody of local police units unless the concerned local jails are already able to admit new detainees. 

In the second circular, all convicted inmates, who should be committed to the BuCor to serve their sentence, should remain in detention facilities of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). 

Both the BuCor and the BJMP have recorded hundreds of COVID-19 cases in their facilities. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/KG, GMA News