BJMP to use e-calculator to determine time allowance of 86k inmates

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) will start using an electronic system for computing good conduct time allowance of some 86,000 detainees to help reduce congestion in its more than 400 jails nationwide.

The system, called the Electronic Time Allowance Calculator (e-TAC), will initially be pilot-tested in six areas, including the Manila City Jail’s male and female dorms, Quezon City Jail and Las Piñas City Jail (Metro Manila), and in Sta. Maria Municipal Jail and San Jose del Monte Municipal Jail (Bulacan) before being implemented in other BJMP jails.

To support the program, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday donated seven computers to the BJMP for the deployment of the e-TAC system.

“This software system will help the BJMP improve the accuracy and speed of computing good conduct credits. This credit system encourages good behaviour behind bars, giving inmates the possibility of release before serving their full sentence,” said Vincent Ballon, the ICRC delegate in charge of the program with the BJMP.

“Its effective implementation will help decrease congestion in BJMP jails by enabling jail staff to better monitor inmate data,” he added.

Republic Act No. 10592 of 2014, an amendment to the Revised Penal Code, extended the good conduct time allowance—“credit for good behavior”—to all inmates, including those under trial.

Currently, over 86,000 people are detained in 459 BJMP jails, which have an actual capacity of about 20,000. The reduction of overcrowding is one of the priorities outlined by the BJMP in its 2014–16 roadmap.

The BJMP is under the Department of Interior and Local Government.

The ICRC said it has been helping the government in reducing jail overcrowding by addressing its causes, and in alleviating the consequences on detainees.

Among the aspects of detention that the group focuses on are the detainees’ access to water and health care, living conditions and judicial guarantees, and then works with the authorities to bring about tangible improvements in the detention system and detainees’ conditions and treatment.

While the National Building Code states that an inmate must have 4.7 sq.m. as personal space, 76,000 inmates are only given 93,000 sq.m. for their living space, meaning four inmates are constrained in a single cell.

Conditions in prisons in Metro Manila are worse, with congestion rates of 310 percent or 18,000 inmates squeezing together in 21,000 sq.m.

The New Bilibid Prison, which is run by the Bureau of Corrections, stands as a prime example of these constraints, as 23,000 have to live in a space built for 8,500 inmates. The Bureau of Corrections is under the Department of Justice.

As a partial solution to these problems, a new penal facility worth P50.2 billion will be built inside Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija in March 2016.

Estimated to cover 170 hectares and accommodate 26,880 inmates, the new facility—which will be a public-private partnership project—will replace the NBP upon its completion in 2019. — Mark Merueñas/BM, GMA News