Computation rules for inmates’ time allowances, service of sentence enforced

Jail authorities will now be using uniform guidelines for the computation of good conduct and time allowances, and service of sentence for prisoners.

Launched on Friday, the Uniform Manual on Time Allowance and Service of Sentence

will be used by jail authorities managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penelogy (BJMP), which is under the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), which is under the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The BJMP oversees detainees facing trial while the BuCor guards convicted individuals.

According to the DOJ, the manual harmonizes policies and the interpretation of pertinent laws, which were previously applied in “fragmented and different manners” by the BJMP and provincial/city/district jails.

“This is primarily because these agencies are under the effective control and supervision of different departments and various local government units,” the DOJ said.

Prepared by the DOJ and DILG, the manual was also created in line with Republic Act 10592, which amended several provisions of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

For instance, the law allows the BuCor Director General, the BJMP Chief, and wardens of provincial, district, municipal and city jails to grant time allowances for good conduct, studying, teaching or mentoring, and loyalty.

Previously, only the BuCor Director General was authorized to grant such privilege.

“Uniformity eliminates fragmentation and it imposes order amidst confusions. Unity is essential for the effective administration of justice in all of its aspects,” Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said.

Justice Undersecretary Reynante Orceo said training will be conducted for “the local jails on how to compute and how to give time allowances to persons deprived of liberty.”

Copies of the manual will also be distributed to courts. —LBG, GMA News