DILG says jail facilities managed well amid COVID-19 threat

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Monday said prisoners are being managed well inside jail facilities in light of the possible transmission of COVID-19.

At the Palace press briefing, DILG officer-in-charge Undersecretary Bernardo Florece Jr. said the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) is managing the situation thoroughly.

“Sa jail facilities natin meron tayong tinatawag na isolation facility kung saan may nagpa-postive dahil sa bisita,” he said.

(“We have isolation centers in our fail facilities where we have inmates who got infected because of the visitation.”)

Florece added that incoming individuals turned over by the Philippine National Police undergo isolation in a halfway house for 14 days before entering jail facilities.

As of February, more than 122,000 inmates have been granted temporary liberty since March last year as part of the judiciary’s push to curb the spread of COVID-19 by decongesting jails.

On Monday, the Department of Health (DOH) reported a total of 945,745 COVID-19 cases in the country with 9,628 new infections. At least 141,375 are still active cases.

The death toll due to the diseases climbed to 16,048 after 88 more patients died. — BM, GMA News