Académique Documents
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The term correction could mean two separate meanings. First, it is the institution that
provides community’s official reaction to a convicted offender, such institution is a
branch of the administration of criminal justice, charge with the responsibility for
custody, supervision and rehabilitation of the convicted offender. Second, it is a study
of methods that have been and are employed for the punishment and deterrence of
such behavior and a study of efforts to accompany the punishment with measures that
are intended to change or correct offenders. Both definitions comes from the principle
of punishment and the management of prisons, reformatories and other confinement
units. The birth of penology is also considered the birth of a humane approach in the
administration of justice.
Corrections stand as the fourth pillar of the components of our Criminal Justice
System. Some people viewed it as the weakest pillar among the pillars of criminal
justice. This is due to an assumption that correctional institutions cannot rehabilitate
offenders, which is manifested through the increase of criminalities and recidivism. But,
the fact is nobody wants nor loves to be imprisoned, nobody wants their freedom be
curtailed. If one commits a crime we scientifically explain it why he commits a crime,
and not allege that it is due to some failure or our criminal justice system, that pushes
the individual to commit crime.
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Corrections denoted its concern and operate as society’s primary formal
dispenser of punishment. Corrections, however, is more than simply a nice term for
punishment. The root of the word implies and focuses on correcting a problem or series
of problems in society. It has come to stand for a broad category of activities ranging
from incarceration of offenders, to assisting ex-offenders in securing employment and
education in the community to provide assistance for the victims of crimes. These
systematic and organized efforts directed by society that punished offenders, protect
the public from offenders, change the offender’s behavior, and in some cases
compensate victims. Thus, evolving within the milieu of social control that keeps to
work through the ambit of social justice where its sight is located to keep at pace the
norms of human behavior in particular and social norm in general.
Theories of Penology
1. Absolute Theories – these theory concerns with the legalistic approach on penal
applications as a ground of calling justice. The imposition of punishment is a
retributive nature of justice reformation, deterrence, crime prevention, self-defense
and control. It adopts the principle of “nullum crimen, nulla sine poena lege” there is
no crime if there is no law punishing it.
2. Relative Theories – these theory concerns that punishment is a utility and usefulness
of the society.
Classifications:
Approaches in Corrections
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Innovative Programs Introduce in Corrections
1. All efforts consistent with the safety of others should be made to reduce
involvements of the individual offender with the institutional aspects of
corrections.
2. Need for extensive involvement with the multiple aspects of the community,
beginning with the offender and his world and extending to the larger social
system.
3. Community- based corrections demands radically new rules for inmates’ staff,
and citizens.
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measures maybe directed at change control or reintegration, I the failures of
offenders to achieve these goals can be measures by recidivism and their
success in defined by reaching specific objectives set by correctional decision
makers.
Penalty in its general sense signifies pain; in the juridical sphere, it means suffering
undergone, because of the action of society, to one who commits a crime.
The very purpose or reason why society has to punish a criminal is to secure justice.
The society or state has to protect its existence, assert what is right for the people
based on moral principles, which must be vindicated. The giving of punishment, which
is exercised by society, is the fulfillment of service and satisfaction of a duty to the
people it protects.
Purpose of Penalty
Goals of Sentencing:
a. Punish often isolates the criminal, leaves in him a stigma and develops in
His person a strong presentment of authority;
b. It develops caution on the part of criminal; committing crimes during nighttime;
resorting to the use of indigenous methods, or may even undergo physical
transfiguration to avoid punishment.
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c. It generally stops constructive efforts, lack of respect for the law, lack or
patriotism, and loss of self-respect ;
d. Public attitude by idolizing the criminal, this giving an offender higher.
Punishment and Penalty
The Difference
Punishment Penalty
Is the redress that the state takes Is the suffering inflicted by the State
against an offending member. for the transgression of law.
Nature of Punishment
Nicomedian Ethics:
This is a title of a book that was written by Aristotle (in Athens) in his 1st
attempt to explain crime.
This is about the corrective justice stating “Punishment is a means of
restoring the balance between pleasure and pain”.
Also forwarded the concept of restitution when he wrote “punishment is
a means whereby the loss suffered by the victim is
compensated”.
1) The Classical School of Thought – (Beccaria) “Let the punishment fits the
crime”. The philosophy of hedonism and freewill, this is to make a rational
choice between what will cause pain and what will result in pleasure.
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2) The Neo-Classical School of Thought – Children and lunatic persons do not
have freewill thus they must be excluded to any punishment since they do
not know what is right or wrong.
3) The Positive School of Thought – (Lombroso) “Let the treatment fits the
criminal”. People cannot always be held accountable for their behavior
because of the factors beyond their control. This is known as
“Determinism”, man’s freewill can be influenced and dictated by physical,
psychological and environmental conditions. Therefore, criminals should
not be punished but rather be treated because he is having illness which
leads him to do wrong.
(People believe that when a person commits a crime he was possessed by demon. The
system of correction is focused on casting out demons inside the person’s body.)
Pungent Potion – drink potion to drive away evil spirit that leads him to commit a
crime.
Grotesques Mask – they wear masks and dance around the person who commits
a crime to drive out evil spirit in his body.
Trephination Method – a piece of stone or wood which has very sharp edge that
will use to make a hole at the person’s forehead.
Banishment – a person will be rejected in the community, if he refuse to do so,
he will be killed.
EARLY FORMS OF CORRECTION:
(Detailed Background)
During the early development of civilization, people believe that when a person commits
a crime he is being possessed by demon. The system of their correction is focused to
cast out the demon inside the person’s body. Which was the very cause why he
committed crime. The following methods were used:
1. Pungent Poison – when an individual commits a crime they let the person
drink a pungent poison to drive away the evil spirit inside his body which
leads him in the commission of crime.
2. Grotesques Mask – they wear a grotesque mask and they dance around the
person who commits a crime in order to drive out the spirit in his body.
3. Trephination Method – a piece of stone or wood which has very sharp edge
will be used to make a hole at the forehead of the person who violates the
law and they will pray or cast out the evil spirit to get out of his body.
4. Banishment – when a person commits a crime he will be rejected by the
community for him not to influence others to commit crime, if he refuses in
his community he will be killed.
Flogging – is the whipping of stick, rope or leather to a person who violates the
law.
Mutilation – cutting some parts of the offender’s body.
Branding – lesser of that mutilation as punishment of crime.
Public Humiliation – gives opportunity to the members of the community to take
vengeance. Offender was heckled and spit upon by passers, throwing of
tomatoes or rotten eggs to the offender.
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Exile or Banishment – England prisoners were sent to America in early 1618 as
their captive labor force for the development of colonies. Also known as
“Transportation”.
Work House – inmates will work instead of punishing them.
Flogging – it is the whipping of a stick, rope, or leather to a person who violates the
law.
The famous whip, was the Russian knot made out of leather thongs tipped with
fishhook like wires. A few strides with the knot produced serious lacerations and often
resulted in much blood loss. Another type of whip is the cat-o-nine tails, which is made
of nine strands of leather or rope.
Flogging was widely used in England during the Middle-Ages, were offenders are beaten
as they run through the streets with their hands tied behind their back.
Mutilation – it is the cutting of some parts of the offender’s body. Throughout history
various societies have tongues ripped out, and pickpockets have suffered broken
fingers.
Extensive mutilation, which included blinding, cutting off the ears, and ripping out the
tongue, was instituted in eleventh-century in Britain and imposed upon hunters who
poached on Royal Lands.
Today, Iran and Saudi Arabia still use the mutilation type of penalty which incapacitates
offenders and giving to society a walking example of the consequences of crime.
Branding – was used as a lesser form of mutilation, the Romans, Greeks, French,
British, and may other societies have all used branding. In 1829 the British parliament
officially eliminated branding as a punishment of a crime. Offenders who are branded
have an identifying marks on the hand if he repeat its violation the marking is placed at
the forehead.
In 1776, the American Revolution forced the practice to end. The British penology
shifted to the use of aging ships, called hulks, as temporary prisons. Hulks were
anchored in harbors through England and serves as floating confinement facilities.
In 1787, after Captain Cook had discovered the continent, Australia became the new
port of call for English prisoners.
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Work houses – during the sixteenth century, Europe was faced with an economic
upheaval product of their industrial revolution. Thousands were unemployed and
vagrants where in towns and villages seeking food and shelter. Because their homes
and pieces of land were sold for the industrialization of Europe. Churches that time was
the primary social relief of the people’s situation.
The government of Europe believed that poverty was the caused of laziness. They
created workhouses designed to instill the habits “Saint Bridget’s Well”. The name in
Europe opened in 1557 in a former British Brides well became synonym for workhouses.
Brides well taught word habit to the inmates and not punish the convict instead, it was
replaced by hard work.
The Philippine Constitution directs that excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel
and unusual penalties when it is so disproportionate to the offense committed as to
shock the moral sense of all reasonable when as to what is right and proper under the
circumstances.
Classification of Penalties
4. Light Penalties
a. Arresto Menor – 1 day to 30 days of imprisonment
b. Public Censure
The death penalty – was restored through R.A. 7659 which took effect on
December 3, 1993 for certain heinous crime. Such as Treason, piracy, Qualified
Piracy, Qualified Bribery, Parricide, Murder, Infanticide, Kidnapping and Serious
Detention, Robbery with Homicide, Destructive Arson with Homicide, Plunder
Dangerous Drugs and Carnapping.
The death sentence shall be carried out not earlier than one (1) year nor later
than 18 months after the judgments becomes final and executory. Provided, that
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the Supreme Court who does the review of the case in which death penalty was
imposed have reach a vote of eight (8) Justices as provided under Republic Act
No. 296. Otherwise death penalty shall not be imposed. The convicted felon will
be given a penalty of reclusion perpetua.
In all cases where the death sentence has become final, the records of the cases
shall be forwarded the office of the President for possible exercise of the
pardoning power.
1. Pregnant woman;
2. Within one (1) year after delivery of a pregnant woman;
3. Person over 70 years of age.
Developments of Prisons
Penitentiary Concept
The term penitentiary came from the Latin word “Paennitentia”, meaning penitence and
was coined by an English prisoner reformer, John Howard, it referred to a place were
crime and sin may be stoned for a penitence produced. Massive edifies of concrete and
steel, the original penitentiaries were designed to facilitate solitary contemplation of
one’s misdeeds. It was felt that introspection in solitude was conductive to personal
reform. It was also believed that if prisoners were allowed to associate, they would
criminally contaminate one another. At present, the terms prison and penitentiary are
used synonymously.
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Tiny cells where built for individual Each cell has small exercise area to
prisoners where he is confined allow the prisoner to maintain physical
without any exercise or any activity. condition to be more valuable in
This system was designed to make production.
the prisoners not in inactivity while in This facility has a work area for day
solitary confinement. time works.
Any prisoners who dared speak or Allow bible reading for spiritual and
make any sound was severely emotional transformation, to be
whipped. productive upon release.
This system resulted in substantial This system is applied in European
number of suicides and insanity and Countries.
the practice was abandoned 5 years
after it was introduced.
Solitary confinement as a method of
punishment was abandoned in the
U.S. because prisoners can’t be made
productive and unprofitable to
maintain.
This system was modified to allow the
prisoner to work during day time in
common areas but must maintain
absolute silence and then spend their
nights in solitary confinement.
This modification was adopted
because it was found out that people
working collectively in common areas
produced more benefits that working
individually.
Code of Hammurabi
1750 BC to 1900 BC (Babylon)
Found in Manama Dharma of India, and Hermes Trismegitus of Egypt
The principle of LEX TALIONES (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth)
Two (2) tired concept (not everybody is equal in imposition of
punishment)
Stiffer punishment in offenders from upper classes
Uncivilized due to naked revenge than modern concept of rehabilitation
and treatment.
Mosaic Code
Also retribution
But allows restitution (settlement)
Allowed flogging or burning alive
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Retribution defers from Restitution:
Furca
Ancient Greece around 400 BC
V-shape yolk, worn around the neck
Outstretched arms of the convict were tied
In Ancient Greece
Testimony of the slaves can only be accepted if it was acquired through
torture
Reason of imprisonment is to detain those who are undergoing trial
If convicts refuse to be punish or to pay fines will be imprisoned in
Romans Style
Their justice is not vengeful/ retributive and must reform the offender also
to deter others to commit crime (humane method only for Greek citizens
or prominent inhabitants “privileged class of Greek society have rights”)
Most brutal find of punishment will only be inflicted to aliens and slaves
(those who belongs to exploited classes)
Citizens will be fined for a crime. If committed by slaves or aliens will
likely be flogged.
Underground Cistern
Detainees are those who are undergoing trial
Sentenced offenders will be hold and be starved to death
Justinian Code
In middle ages around 529 AD (Roman Emperor Justin)
This became the Standard Law in Roman Empire particularly in Europe
A revision of the “12 Tables of Roman Law”
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Punishment were met according to the social class of the offender
The offender should pay specific value in order not to undergo physical
sufferings as penalty. This is only applied to nobility and middle classes
Death penalty awaits on slaves who commit murder, assaults on noble or
middle class women, sexual relations with the noble and middle class, and
giving aid and comfort to escape offenders
Xenophon and Demosthenes suffered this punishment for their
philosophical beliefs
Paterfamilias:
A concept wherein the head of the family has virtually limitless power to
punish erring family members and slaves.
Centuriate Assembly:
By 509 B.C. a law was passed prohibiting flogging or execution except if
this assembly will affirmed.
Stocks:
A kind of device that was fastened at the ankle, neck and wrist of offender
for a long period of time.
Stoning to Death:
This is practiced in the time of Jesus that is still existed today in Islamic
countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Burning Alive:
Existed in Ancient Greece which was also practiced by the Romans.
Roman Catholic Church also resorts to this punishment during the time of
the inquisition for unbelievers, witches and heretics.
Destierro:
This was Banishment before that was also practiced by the Spaniards and
was incorporated in Codigo Penal in the Philippines. (Not less than 25 km
radius not more than 250 km radius. Remember: if you go beyond 25 km
there will be a crime of evasion of service of sentence, but if you go
beyond 250 km there is no crime for the main purpose of destierro is
protection)
Ecclesiastical Court:
A court that conducts trials to priests offenders and all those connected
with the church.
More compassionate
Later granted to anyone who was literate
Papal Bull:
By Pope Innocent VIII, in 1487
This allowed refugee offenders to be driven out of the sanctuary if they
used this for committing a crime.
The Inquisition:
Another Ecclesiastical court that has gained historical notoriety throughout
the Ages for his viciousness.
Responsible for detection and punishment of unbelievers and heresy
Officially begin with declaration of the Lateran Council, 1215 which
allowed “Torture”.
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Throughout this Dark Age Church can punish anyone, many become
victims of trumped up charges that they were witches or advancing
scientific studies.
Galileo Galilee:
Almost burn at the Stake, if only for his popularity.
Because of his discovery that the earth was not flat.
Pope Leo 1:
The 1st Pope that fully express approval for killing human.
Sanctioned death as punishment
Heresy was the crime that was strictly for death penalty.
Priscillian:
The 1st recorded Christian who was put to death for being a heretic.
Encyclical “TertioMillenioAdvenicute”:
By Pope John Paul II, a pro-life pope who reversed culture of death.
Formally apologized past intolerance and use of violence in the defense of
truth.
Evangelium Vitae:
By Pope John Paul II, he calls to reject death penalty, abortion, use of
contraceptives and euthanasia.
This challenges to break away from the “culture of death” especially
treatment of killings.
Galleys:
From the middle of 14th century to the beginning of 19th century.
they were slaves chained to oar the ship
practiced in Ancient Rome and Greece
The Brank:
This is a metal frame that was put in the head like a hat and a painful
mouthpiece was inserted in the mouth.
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Bridewell Institution:
In 1556 Bridewell England
Some writers claim that this took place in 1552 during the reign of King
Edward VI
Established as a workhouse for vagabonds, idlers and rogues.
Employs a system wherein vagrants and prostitutes were given works
while serving their sentence. This system is called the Bridewell System.
This system is utilizing prison labor for benefits of wealthy individuals and
government officials.
In 1166 A.D. Assize of Clarendon (Constitution of Clarendon) constructed
the first facility designed solely for public incarceration. This facility was
known as Gaol (known as Jail today). The gaol was being managed by
the Shire Reeve.
Mercantilism – Capitalism
Feudalism – Landlords
Guillotine:
Introduction of a cleaner and swifter method of executing convicts.
Penitentiary Act:
An act passed in the year 1779, mandated the establishment of a prison
system based on solitary confinement, hard, labour, and religious
instruction.
Norfolk Prison:
At Wymondham, England was opened after five years of P.A. of 1779.
National Penitentiary:
Of Millbank followed to open in 1821.
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Used underground facilities to incarcerate offenders for many years due to
lack of funds for the establishment of formal prison institution. (New Gate
Prison is established and known to be as “black hole of horrors”)
Sing-Sing Prisons:
Became famous in the world and was the plot of many movies filmed
because of Sing2x Bath inflicted aside from floggings, denial of reading
materials and solitary confinement.
The shower bath was a gadget so constructed as to drop a volume of
water on the head of a locked naked offender.
The force of icy cold water hitting the head of the offender caused much
pain and extreme shock that prisoners immediately sank into the comas
due to the shock and sudden drop in the body temperature.
The Sing-Sing bath becomes more frequent when flogging was declared
illegal in 1847.
Australia:
The biggest penal colony of the world before it become a country.
Prisoners in England were transported in this place in 1790-1875 to avoid
decongestion.
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Indiana and Massachusetts:
first Correctional for Women
State of Massachusetts:
Reform school for boys at Westborough in 1847
First Public Institution for Juvenile Delinquent
New Orleans:
Municipal Boys Reformatory in 1845
Philippines Written Codes
Code of Kalantiao (1433) -first written law in the Philippines that provides the
most extensive and severe law that prescribes harsh punishment.
Sikatuna Law
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wherein the prisoners was required to earn a number of marks based on proper
department, labor, and study in order to entitle him to a ticket of leave or
conditional release which is similar to a parole.
He also introduced other progressive measures such as fair disciplinary trials, buildings
of churches, distributing books and permitting prisoners to tend small gardens.
D. Sir Walter Crofton – He was the director of the Irish prisons in 1856, who
introduced the Irish system which was later on cared the progressive stage
system. The Irish system was gradually a modification of Manoche’s work
system, and consisted of four (4) stages:
The Elmira Reformatory is considered as the fore runner of modern penology because it
had all the elements of a modern correctional system, among which were: A training
school type, that is compulsory education: casework method; and intensive use of
parole based on the indeterminate sentence.
F. Sir Evelyn Ruggles Brise – was the director of English Prisons who open the
Borstal institution after visiting the Elmira Reformatory in 1897, such Borstal
institutions.
Today are considered as the best reform institutions for young offenders. This
system was based entirely on individualize treatment.
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John Howard (1726-1790)
He was sheriff of Bedsfordshire in 1773 who devoted his life and fortune
to prison reform.
Prisoners must be segregated according to sex, age, and gravity of their
offense;
The jailer or staff must be paid to prevent extortion to prisoners;
a chaplain and a medical officer must be employed to address the
spiritual and medical needs of the prisoners;
Prisoners should be provided with clothing and food;
Liquor should be prohibited in jail.
He designed the Milbank Penitentiary 1812-1821, the first English Prison
He published a book in 1777, “State of Prison”
Rutherford B. Hayes
Former president of the United States, was elected as the first president
of the National Prison Association.
PNA Principles:
Reformation not the vindictive infliction of suffering should be the purpose
of penal treatment.
Prisoners should be classified on the basis of a mark system.
Rewards should be provided for good conduct.
Prisoners should be made to realize that their future rest in their own
hands.
Indeterminate sentences should be substitute fixed sentences and
disparities in sentences removed.
Religion and education are the most important agencies of reformation.
Discipline should be administered so that it gains the cooperation of the
inmate and maintains his self-respect.
The goal of the prison should be to make industrious free citizens, not
orderly and obedient prisoners.
Industrial training should be fully provided.
Prisons should be small; separate institutions should be provided for
different types of offenders.
The social training of prisoners should be facilitated; silence rules should
be abolished.
Society at large must realize that they are responsible for the conditions
that bleed crimes.
Gaylord B. Hubbell
Warden of Sing Sing Prison in New York;
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Visited and studied the prisons in England;
Recommended indeterminate sentences be used in American prisons;
Reformatory based upon the concept of an earned early release if the
inmate reformed himself.
The period from 1870 to 1880 was called the “Golden Age of Penology” because of
the following significant events:
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operation of the work programs in prison became more deeply felt. State governments
could hardly afford to provide the funds with which to run the prisons because of the
economic depression that hit the United States before and in the early 1930’s. In this
movement, there was an operation of industries inside penal institution and therefore,
considered a noble innovation that help support the prisons. Nearly every prison,
therefore, was converted into a factory engaged in the manufacture of articles which
were sold in the open market for profit. At about this time, it was observed that there
was a sudden increase of criminality in the United States. Some people attributed the
increase of criminality to the depression. The United states Congress created a
Congressional Committee were that the rise in criminality was caused by the increase in
recidivism and repeaters in crime, and that the increase in recidivism and habitual
delinquency was attributed to the abandonment of the rehabilitation program in penal
institutions in favor of the operation of industries. As a remedial measure, Congress
passed a law in 1934, which in effect, prohibited the sale of prison-made articles to
the public, and limited their use to government-owned institutions and agencies. This
law put an end to the Industrial Prison Movement.
The Six (6) Prison Labor
2. Piece-price system – materials and the products are produced by the prisons
and bought by the private businesses.
3. Lease system – prison institutions acting like labor firm or labor agency to
private businesses that need manpower.
4. Public Account system – goods and products are owned and manage by the
prison and sold it to the market.
Treatment era came after the World War II in 1940’s, this is based on a medical
model of corrections. This concept combined the correction, reformation and
behavioral treatment or psychiatric approach. Inmates are treated as “clients” or
patients” than offenders.
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therapist assists the group in uncovering individual fears, hidden
experiences, and anxieties which act as barriers to conventional behavior.
The “Right Guys”. The right guys exert tremendous power and influence
over other inmates in enforcing strict observance of the “Prisoners’ Code”.
The Larceny Boys. The larceny boys make a special business of stealing
the personal belongings of unsuspecting prisoners and selling the loot to
still other inmates.
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Leather Workers. The leather workers consist of one or more informal
groups which devote all of their leisure time to the manufacture of artistic
leather goods for sale to the public.
The Mean Dude. Some inmates adjust to prison by being mean. They
are quick to fight, and when they fight, they fight like wild mean (or
women). They give no quarter and seem to expect none in return. Other
inmates know that such prisoners are best left alone. The mean dude
receives frequent write-ups and spends much time in solitary confinement.
The Hedonist. Some inmates build their lives around the limited
pleasures which can be had within the confines of prison. The smuggling
of contraband, homosexuality, gambling, drug running, and other officially
condemned activities provide the center of interest for prison hedonists.
Hedonists generally have an abbreviated view of the future, living only for
“now”.
The Legalist. The Legalist is the “jail house lawyer”. Just like the mean
dude, the legalist fights confinement. The weapons in this fight are not
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fists or clubs, however, but the legal “writ”. Convicts facing long
sentences, with little possibilities for early released through the
correctional system, are most likely to turn to the courts in their battle
against confinement.
The Colonist. Some inmates think of prison as their home. They “know
the ropes,” have many “friends” inside, and may feel more comfortable
institutionalized than on the streets.
The Religious. Some prisoners profess a strong religious faith. They may
be “born again” Christians, committed Muslims, or even Hare Krishnas.
Religious inmates frequently attend services, may form prayer groups, and
sometimes ask the prison administration to allocate meeting facilities or
create special diets to accommodate their claimed spiritual needs.
The Dictator. Some officers go by the book; others go beyond it, using
prison rules to enforce their own brand of discipline. The guard who
demands signs of inmate’s subservience, from constant use of the word
“sir” or “ma’am” to frequent free shoeshine, is one type of dictator.
Another goes beyond legality, beating or “making” inmates even for minor
infractions or perceived insults. Dictator guards are bullies. They find their
counterpart in the “mean dude” inmate.
The Indifferent. The indifferent type of officer cares little for what goes
on in the prison setting. Officers who fit this category may be close to
retirement, or they may be alienated from their jobs for various reasons.
Low pay, the view that inmates are basically “worthless” and incapable of
changing, and the monotonous ethic of “doing time” all combine to numb
the professional consciousness of even young officers.
The Climber. The climber is apt to be a young officer with an eye for
promotion. Nothing seems impossible to the climber, who probably hopes
eventually to be warden or program director or to hold some high-status
position within the institutional hierarchy.
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needs of inmates and is apt to offer “arm-chair” counseling and
suggestions.
The Square – Square inmates had few early experiences with criminal
lifestyles and tended to sympathize with prison values and attitudes of
conventional society.
The Cool – Cool prisoners were more likely to be career offenders. They
tended to keep themselves and were generally supportive of inmate
values.
The Life – Life group members were full participants in the economic,
social, and familial arrangements of the prison. The life offered an
alternative lifestyle to women who had experienced early and constant
rejection by conventional society.
The Bureau’s work program for inmates has the purpose of keeping inmates
busy and compensating them for their labor in order that they can be have money for
their personal expenses in prison and families. These work programs are funded from
three (3) sources, namely: (1) from appropriated funds for inmates utilized as janitors,
orderlies and other administrative odd jobs; (2) from the Prison Agro-Industries trust
funds for inmates utilized as farm workers; and (3) from joint ventures such as TADECO
as banana plantation workers, Prison Inmate Labor Contract Office and Sam sung for
handicraft contracts. Inmate workers hired by private companies earn higher wages as
shown.
As a major program in inmate rehabilitation, the Bureau through its seven (7)
prisons undertakes, there are two types of education and training. The first is the non-
formal education offered by all penal institution; (1) Adult Literacy (2) applied Training
and (3) Orientation. The second is the formal education offered only at the New Bilibid
Prison, which covers College (BS Commerce), High School, Elementary and Vocational
Courses.
The religious which includes worship and formation, ministerial rites, para-
lethargical and counseling is headed by a religious Guidance Adviser. Various religious
volunteers representing Christian denominations and Muslim groups attend the spiritual
need of the inmates. The influence of religion in prison life is strong positive factor in
the restoration of their faith, dignity and manhood.
Counseling Defined. A relationship in which one endeavors to help another solve his
problems of adjustments. This implies mutual consent between the counselor and the
client.
The prison Medical Service of the Bureau of Corrections provides health care to
about 18,000 inmates. The Bureau’s biggest hospital has a five hundred (500)
employees. Each of the six (6) other penal institutions has its own hospital/infirmary
with one (1) to three (3) medical officers.
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Medical cases that cannot be effectively treated at these hospital/infirmaries and
referred to better equipped government hospitals outside the prisons, chargeable to the
funds of the Bureau. As a standard procedure, inmates referred other hospital are
escorted by security officers and a members of the medical staff a medical allowance of
p.50 (US $0.02) a day is allotted each inmate.
Visitation Services
Inmates are allowed under supervision to be visited by the families and duly
registered friends from Sunday to Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily.
Overnight conjugal visits are made only during special holidays like Christmas, New
Year, valentines and Independence Day.
Parole Examination
Prison Agro-Industries
Prison agro-industries, which are the source of inmates livelihood programs, are
turned into joint ventures with private companies and non-governmental agencies to
improve production output and to provide adequate work programs for the inmates that
will enable them to earn just compensation while serving their prison sentence. Income
fro the Operation of Agro-industries in partnership whit the private sector augments the
Bureau limited appropriation.
Female inmate:
A female inmate shall only be assigned to work on jobs suitable to her age and
physical condition. She shall be supervised only by women officers.
Old inmate:
An inmate over sixty (60) years of age may be excused from mandatory labor.
Place of work assignment
Only medium and minimum security inmates may be assigned to work in
agricultural field projects within a prison reservation. Maximum-security inmates
shall not be allowed to work outside the maximum security compound.
25
withdrawal, the Director or the Superintendent may authorize the disbursement
of any part of the amount retained.
Withdrawal of earnings – The inmate may, at any time, withdraw from his
compensation earnings in an amount not exceeding one-half (1/2) of his total
earnings. However, in cases of urgent need and at the discretion of the
Superintendent, the whole of his earnings may be withdrawn. But he may, at any
time, withdraw any part or all monies receive from other sources.
The reorganization or the federal prison system in 1930, stared the movement for
modern correctional reforms. The most recent developments in individualization of
treatment and training of prisoners. State correctional system have adopted California’s
system of diversification by institution and diversification within the institution in the
year 1944. Today, no prison system which has effectively without this programs.
Through such reorganization the Reception and Guidance Center was established. It’s a
new type of institution for the study of the prisoner and preparation of his treatment
and training program in prison.
Classification Diversification
Is the placing of prisoners into types or Is an administrative device of correctional
categories for the implementation of the institutions of providing varied and
best treatment programs. It is a method flexible types of physical plants for more
by which diagnostic treatment planning effective control of the treatment
and execution of treatment programs are programs of its diversified population. It
coordinated in individual cases. is the separation of different types of
inmates for sound execution of their
treatment and custody.
26
1. Diagnosis- this done inside the reception center in which the inmates will
undergo series of test, e.g. physical, mental and medical examination in other to
determine the inmates condition.
2. Treatment Planning- this will takes place in the reception center, which is a
special unit from the prisoner or in the classification clinic of the prison. (After
the staff interview and staff conference is done, it will be then part of the
admission summary)
3. Execution of the Treatment Program- this will takes place in the operating
institution or prison.
The Reception and Diagnostic Center makes possible the careful study of offen-
ders by a professional staff, the segregation of prisoners based on scientific
methods: the treatment of inmates based upon careful study of the individual
inmate at the time of commitment; the improvement of institutional programs
based on close study of inmate's characteristics and needs made at the Center;
and the development of research concerning the causes and treatment of
delinquency or crime. The Reception Center is a specialized diagnostic institution
designed to service a big correctional system. It is not a treatment center.
In order that the Center can accomplish the purposes for which it is intended,
the following basic elements must exist in the correctional system:
27
mendation with regard to custody and transfer and calls attention to any special
conditions which limit or indicate special type of work, educational training,
recreation or disciplinary treatment.
28
Staff Interview and Staff Conference
The Difference
The written reports submitted by the staff, of the center regarding their findings
on-the prisoners are compiled, and form the admission summary. The admission
summary becomes the, nucleus of the cumulative case history of the prisoner. It
should be prepared in three copies.
The basic law on the Philippine Prison System is found in the Revised
Administrative Code. Particularly Sections 1705 to 1751 of said Code,
otherwise known as the Prison Law. Bureau of Prisons was created under the
Reorganization Act of 1905 (Act No. 1407 dated November 1, 1905) as an
29
agency under the Department of Commerce and Police. Revise Administrative
Code of 1987 (E.O. 292) and Proclamation No. 495 issued on November 22,
1989. Change the agencies' name to Bureau of Corrections from Bureau of
Prisons. Republic Act No. 10575 The Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013″.
Approved May 24, 2013
1. Safekeeping and;
2. Instituting reformation programs to national inmates sentenced to more than
three (3) years.
Safekeeping Reformation
refer to the act that ensures the shall refer to the acts which ensure the
public (including families of inmates public (including families of inmates
and their victims) that national and their victims) that released
inmates are provided with their national inmates are no longer harmful
basic needs, to the community by becoming
completely incapacitated from reformed individuals prepared to live a
further committing criminal acts, normal and productive life upon
and have been totally cut off from reintegration to the mainstream
their criminal networks (or contacts society.
in the free society)
while serving sentence inside the
premises of the national
penitentiary.
This act also includes protection
against illegal organized armed
groups which have the capacity of
launching an attack on any prison
camp of the national penitentiary to
rescue their convicted comrade or
to forcibly amass firearms issued to
prison guards.
30
The safekeeping of inmates shall include decent provision of quarters, food,
water and clothing in compliance with established United Nations standards.The
security of the inmates shall be undertaken by the Custodial Force consisting of
Corrections Officers with a ranking system and salary grades similar to its
counterpart in the BJMP.
Reformation of National Inmates
Old Bilibid Prison on Oroquieta Street in Manila, which was established in 1847;
this prison became known as the “Carcel y Presidio Correccional”
August 21, 1870, the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City was
established to confine Muslim rebels and recalcitrant political prisoners opposed
to the Spanish rule;
San Ramon Established during the tenure of Governor General Ramon Blanco the
facility was originally established for persons convicted of political crimes.
Governor Luke Wright authorized the establishment of a penal colony in the
province of Palawan on November 16, 1904. Americans established in 1904 the
first penal institution Iuhit penal settlement (now Iwahig Prison and Penal
Farm)
31
First Superintendent Lt. George Wolfe.
Col. John R. White of the Philippine Constabulary, who became superintendent of
Iwahig in 1906, the colony became a successful settlement.
A merit system was devised for the prisoners and vocational activities were
offered.
These included farming, fishing, forestry, carpentry, and hospital paramedical
work.
Iwahig (best open penal institution of the world) is subdivided into four zones or
districts:
Central sub-colony with an area of 14,700 hectares;
Sta. Lucia with 9,685 hectares;
Montible with 8,000 hectares and
Inagawan with 13,000 hectares.
On November 27, 1929, the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) was
created under Act No. 3579 To date, it is the only prison facility for women In
the country;
Its old name, “Women’s Prison,” was changed to “Correctional Institution for
Women.”
The Davao Penal Colony was opened in January 21, 1932 under Act No. 3732.
Governor Dwight Davis signed Proclamation No. 414 on October 7, 1931, which
reserved a site for the penal colony in Davao province in Mindandao.
Davao Penal Colony is the first penal settlement founded and organized under
Filipino administration.
During World War II, the Davao penal colony was converted into a concentration
camp where more than 1,000 Japanese internees were committed by the
Philippine-American Armed Forces.
Commonwealth Act No. 67 was enacted, for the construction of a new national
prison in the southern suburb of Muntinlupa, Rizal in 1935 The New Bilibid
Prison. It was officially named the New Bilibid Prison on January 22, 1941.
The NBP Camp Sampaguita or the Medium Security Camp, which was used as a
military stockade during the martial law years.
Minimum Security Camp, was christened “Bukang Liwayway”.
Under Proclamation No. 72 issued on September 26, 1954, the Sablayan Prison
and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro was established;
Leyte Regional Prison under Proclamation No. 1101 issued on January 16, 1973.
FORT BONIFACIO PRISON, formerly known as Fort William McKinley.
The prison was originally used as a detention center for offenders of US military
laws and ordinances.
Before World War II, two national prisons were established by the government
which are no longer operational today.
Corregidor Island, the Island prison and Bontoc Prison in Mountain Province.
Bureau of Corrections
(Detailed Background)
The main penitentiary was the Old Bilibid Prison on Oroquieta Street in
Manila, which was established in 1847. It was formally opened on April
10, 1866 by a Royal Decree. About four years later, on August 21, 1870,
the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City was established
to confine Muslim rebels and intractable political prisoners opposed to
the Spanish rule. The facility, which faced the Jolo Sea, had Spanish-
inspired dormitories and was originally set on a 1,414-hectare sprawling
estate.
When the Americans took over in the 1900s, the Bureau of Prisons was
created under the Reorganization Act of 1905 (Act No. 1407 dated
November 1, 1905) as an agency under the Department of Commerce and
32
Police. It also paved the way for the re-establishment of San Ramon
Prison in 1907, which was destroyed in 1898 during the Spanish-American
War. It placed under the auspices of the Bureau of Prisons and started
receiving prisoners from Mindanao.
33
Owing to the increasing number of committals to the Old Bilibid Prison in
Manila, the New Bilibid Prison was established in 1935 in the southern
suburb of Muntinlupa, Rizal. The old prison was transformed into a
receiving center and a storage facility for farm produce from the
colonies. It was later abandoned and is now under the jurisdiction of the
Public Estates Authority.
On November 15, 1940, all inmates of the Old Bilibid Prison in Manila
were transferred to the new site. The new institution had a capacity of
3,000 prisoners and it was officially
named the New Bilibid Prison on January 22, 1941. The prison
reservation had an area of 587 hectares, part of which was arable. The
prison compound proper had an area of 300 x 300 meters or a total of
nine hectares. It was surrounded by three layers of barbed wire.
The institution became the maximum security compound in the ‘70s and
continues to be so. The camp houses not only death convicts and
inmates sentenced to life term, but also those with numerous pending
cases, multiple convictions, and sentences of more than 20 years.
After World War II, there was a surfeit of steel matting in the inventory
and it was used to improve the security fence. In the late ‘60s, fences
were further reinforced with concrete slabs. In the 1980s, the height of
the concrete wall was increased and another facility was constructed,
2.5 kilometers from the main building. This became known as Camp
Sampaguita or the Medium Security Camp.
On January 22, 1941 the electric chair was transferred to New Bilibid
Prison. The death chamber was constructed in the rear area of the camp
when the mode of execution was through electrocution. Today, it is a
security zone where those convicted of drug offenses are held.
The NBP expanded with the construction of new security facilities. These
were the Medium Security Camp, which was used as a military stockade
during martial law and the Minimum Security Camp, whose first site was
christened Bukang Liwayway. This was transferred to another site within
the reservation where the former depot was situated.
The increase in the prison population has affected the segregation system.
Several foreign funded projects dot the prison reservation, among them,
the Half-Way House and the Juvenile Training Center. Both projects are
supported by funds from Japan through the representation of the
Interdisciplinary Committee of National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM).
34
CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION FOR WOMEN (CIW): In a report dated
January 22, 1959, submitted to a committee created by Administrative
Order No. 287 by the President of the Philippines, it was noted
that “before a separate building was constructed especially for women
prisoners, all female convicts were confined at the Old Bilibid Prison on
Azcarraga St., Manila. The male prisoners were confined in dormitories
near the women’s quarters. Because of these conditions, vocational
activities of the women prisoners were limited to embroidery. When they
became ill, the women were confined in a separate building which served
as a hospital with nurses and prison physicians. When women prisoners
needed surgery, they were operated on at the Bilibid Prison. After the
operation, they were transferred to the infirmary for convalescence”.
Prison authorities were aware of the conditions that the women prisoners
had to endure. Consequently, the transfer of the women to a separate site
became inevitable. After a series of negotiations started by Prison
Director Ramon Victorio, the Philippine Legislature passed Republic Act
No. 3579 in November, 1929. It authorized the transfer of all women
inmates to a building in Welfareville at Mandaluyong, Rizal and
appropriated P60, 000 for the move.
On February 14, 1931, the women prisoners were transferred from the
Old Bilibid Prison to the building especially constructed for them. Its old
name, “Women’s Prison,” was changed to “Correctional Institution for
Women.” This was in keeping with emerging trends in penology, which
emphasized correction rather than punishment. Convicts were brought
back into the social mainstream adjusted and rehabilitated with a better
outlook in life.
During the Japanese occupation, the CIW, despite a drastic reduction in the
number of its employees, continued with its work. A number of female military
prisoners were also confined in the institution. They were later freed by the U.S.
Army.
After the war, the CIW resumed its normal operations. Weekly catechism
classes were introduced. A dental clinic was built. Local telephones were
installed in the guards’ quarters. The Bureau of Public Works made major repairs
on the main building and a workshop and infirmary were constructed for the
inmates’ use. The infirmary during that time could accommodate around 16
patients. In 2000, a new four-story building was constructed by the Department of
Public Works within the grounds of CIW. It eased the growing congestion in the
facility. The CIW, with a capacity for only 200 inmates, had to accommodate
1,000 inmates.
35
confinement of maximum security prisoners. For several years, incorrigibles
were mixed with political prisoners (those convicted of rebellion) at the Fort
Bonifacio facility until June 30, 1968, when it was converted into a prison
exclusively for political offenders. After a bloody April 1969 riot at the Muntinlupa
facility, however, incorrigible prisoners from Muntinlupa were transferred to Fort
Bonifacio. During the administration of President Diosdado Macapagal, the Fort
was renamed Fort Andres Bonifacio. The correctional facility was also
renamed Fort Bonifacio Prison. The one-story building now stands on a one-
hectare area. The Fort Bonifacio Prison continued to be a satellite prison of the
national penitentiary even after martial law was lifted. It was only in the late
1980’s that the facility was vacated by the Bureau of Prisons.
IWAHIG PENAL COLONY: This facility was established during the American
occupation. It was however; during the Spanish regime that Puerto Princesa was
designated as a place where offenders sentenced to banishment were exiled. A
specific area of Puerto Princesa was selected as the site for a
correctional facility. The American military carved out a prison facility in the rain
forest of Puerto Princesa. The institution had for its first Superintendent Lt.
George Wolfe, a member of the U.S. expeditionary force, who later became the
first prisons director. Governor Luke Wright authorized the establishment of a
penal colony in the province of Palawan on November 16, 1904. This penal
settlement, which originally comprised an area of 22 acres, originally served as a
depository for prisoners who could not be accommodated at the Bilibid Prison in
Manila. In 1906, however, the Department of Commerce and Police (which later
became the Department of Public Instruction) moved to turn the institution into
the center of a penal colony supervised in accordance with trends at the time.
Through the department’s efforts, the Philippine Commission of the United States
government passed Act No. 1723 in 1907 classifying the settlement as a penal
institution. The settlement was at first beset by attempted escapes. But under
the supervision of Col. John R. White of the Philippine Constabulary, who would
become superintendent of Iwahig in 1906, the colony became a successful
settlement. A merit system was devised for the prisoners and vocational
activities were offered. These included farming, fishing, forestry, carpentry, and
hospital paramedical work. Prisoners could choose the vocational activities they
wanted.
36
Spanish-American War in 1898, the prisoners in San Ramon were hastily
released and the buildings destroyed. In 1907, the American administration re-
established the prison farm. In 1912, Gen. John Pershing, chief executive of the
Department of Mindanao and Sulu, classified the institution as a prison and penal
colony and therein confined people sentenced by the courts under his
jurisdiction. Under Pershing’s supervision, several buildings with a capacity for
600 prisoners were constructed. After several years, the colony became
practically self-supporting, with 75,000 coconut trees, which were planted at the
beginning of Pershing’s administration, contributing to the colony’s self-
sufficiency. Aside from coconuts, rice, corn, papaya and other crops were also
cultivated. On November 1, 1905, Reorganization Act No. 1407 was approved
creating the Bureau of Prisons under the
Department of Commerce and Police, integrating the Old Bilibid
Prison, San Ramon Penal Colony and Iwahig Penal. The Philippine Coconut
Authority took over management of the coconut farm from San Ramon. In 1995,
Congresswoman Maria Clara Lobregat proposed the transfer of San Ramon
Prison to Bongiao town, in the mountainous area of Zamboanga, to give way to a
special economic zone.
DAVAO PENAL COLONY: The Davao Penal Colony is the first penal settlement
founded and organized under Filipino administration. The settlement,
which originally had an area of approximately 30,000 hectares in the districts
of Panabo and Tagum, Davao del Norte, was formally established on January
21, 1932 by virtue of Act No. 3732. This Act authorized the Governor-General to
lease or sell the lands, buildings and improvements in San Ramon Prison and
Iwahig Penal Colony. It also granted authority to the Secretary of Justice to
establish a new prison and penal colony in a suitable public land. A budget of
P500,000 was allocated. Several committees were created to pick a suitable
site for the penal settlement. In accordance with the recommendation of these
committees, Governor Dwight Davis signed Proclamation No. 414 on October 7,
1931, which reserved a site for the penal colony in Davao province in
Mindandao. The site offered ideal conditions for agricultural activities. During
World War II, the colony was converted into a concentration camp where more
than 1,000 Japanese internees were committed by the Philippine-American
Armed Forces. The Japanese were treated in accordance with the orders of the
American commanding officer.
On December 20, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Forces attacked Davao and the
colony was among the establishments taken over by the invading army. The
entire settlement was thrown into confusion and a great number of prisoners
escaped. Normal operations were inevitably disturbed. November 8, 1942, a
representative of the Director of Prisons transferred the colony and its properties
to the Japanese authorities. The remaining colony employees, their families and
the inmates evacuated to Iwahig where they organized the Davao Penal Colony
at Inagawan sub colony (Palawan). The organization of the colony in exile was
authorized by virtue of Memorandum Order No. 60 dated June 28, 1943 and
signed by the Director of Prisons.
In 1940, the entire prison population including security facilities and equipment
were transferred to a new site in Muntinlupa. A portion was left to serve as the
Manila office of the Bureau of Prisons. Remaining edifices were used to house
the Manila City Jail. The office was used as a holding center for inmates with
pending court cases in the City of Manila. In 1980, however, when the national
leadership moved to claim the area for another project, the remaining office
was transferred to New Bilibid Prison. It has since been reclaimed and turned
into a station of the Mass Railway System traversing the area. The prison
occupied a quadrangular piece of land 180 meters long on each side, which was
formerly a part of the Mayhalique Estate in the heart of Manila. It housed a
building for the offices and quarters of the prison warden, and 15 buildings
or departments for prisoners that were arranged radially to form spokes. The
central tower formed the hub. Under this tower was the chapel. There were
four cell-houses for the isolated prisoners and four isolated buildings located
on the four corners of the walls, which served as kitchen, hospital and
stores. The prison was divided in the middle by a thick wall. One-half of the
enclosed space was assigned to Presidio prisoners and the other half to Carcel
prisoners. The Laurel report continued: “In 1908, a concrete modern hospital with
a capacity of 200 beds as well as new dormitories for the prisoners, were added.”
A carpentry shop was organized within the confines of the facility. For some time,
37
the shop became a trademark for fine workmanship of furniture made by
prisoners. At the time, sales of handicrafts were done through the institutions
and inmates were compensated depending on the availability of funds. As a
consequence, inmates often had to sell or barter their products.
The Bureau of Prisons was renamed Bureau of Corrections under the New
Administrative Code of 1987 and Proclamation No. 495 issued on November
22, 1989. It is one of the attached agencies of the Department of Justice.
In the early days of the Bureau of Corrections (formerly Bureau of Prisons), penal
institutions were established, closed or transferred to new sites. These included
the Old Bilibid Prison, New Bilibid Prison, and Correctional Institution for Women,
Fort Bonifacio Prison, Iwahig Penal Colony (now Iwahig Prison and Penal
Farm), San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm, Davao Prison and Penal Farm,
Bontoc Prison, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm and Leyte Regional Prison.
The first RDC facility was created in Building of the Maximum Security Compound
of the New Bilibid Prison in 1953; RDC was transferred to Sampaguita Camp in
1973. The RDC was turned into a Therapeutic Community Camp on February 6,
2003.
Purpose of confinement
To segregate and ;him from society; and
To rehabilitate.
Basic principles
Discipline
Reformation
Safe custody of inmates.
38
Quarantine –inmate shall be placed in quarantine for a least five (5) days during
which he shall be-
RDC is a special unit in prison, which operates not as prison, detention nor treatment or
prisoners, but only provides the process of classification of prisoners for their treatment
and rehabilitation process.
Before a prisoners is admitted to the operating institution, he must stay at RDC for 60
days where he will undergo staff interview, examinations, documentation and initial
classification, this is also known as diagnostics examination. After the diagnosis of the
total personality of the prisoner, a treatment plan will be provided for the prisoner’s
rehabilitation and early release. Before the treatment programs be executed the
prisoner will be inform of its treatment programs and the penalties and policies of
prison. Then the prisoner will not submit himself and cooperate with treatment program
provided for him.
Objectives of RDC
1. To develop an integrated and realistic programs for the prisoner through the
coordination of diagnosis, treatment planning and treatment activities.
2. Provide and guide the prisoner or the continuity of the treatment from its
commitment to release.
Functions of RDC
39
Maximum Security (uniform color is tangerine or orange) – this shall include highly
dangerous or high security risk inmates as determined by the Classification Board who
require a degree of control and supervision. Under this category are-
Medium Security (uniform color is blue) – this shall include those who cannot be
trusted in less secured areas and whose conduct or behavior require minimum
supervision.
those whose minimum sentence is less than twenty (20) years imprisonment;
remand inmates or detainees whose sentences are below twenty (20) years;
those who are more than 18 years of age and below, regardless of the case and
sentence;
those who have two (2) or more records escapes. They can be classified as
medium security inmates if they have served eight (8) years since they were
recommitted. Those with one (1) record of escape must serve five (5) years; and
first offenders sentenced to life imprisonment.
They may be classified as medium security if they have served five (5) years in
maximum security prison or less, upon the recommendation of the
Superintendent.
Those who were detained in a city and / or provincial jail shall not be entitled to
say classification.
Minimum Security (uniform color is brown) – this shall include those who can be
reasonably trusted to serve their sentences under less restricted conditions.
those with a severe physical handicap as certified by the chief medical officer of
the prison;
those who are sixty-five (65) years old and above, without pending case and
whose convictions are not on appeal;
those who have served one –half (1/2) of their minimum sentence or one-third
(1/3) of the maximum sentence, excluding Good Conduct Time Allowance
(GCTA)
those who have only six (6) months more to serve before the expiration of their
maximum sentence.
(The color of the uniform of detainee is gray)
Trustee:
40
Admission Procedure in Prison
be at least a first class inmate and has served one (1) year immediately
preceding the completion of the period specified in the following
qualifications;
has served imprisonment with good conduct for a period equivalent to one
fifth (1/5) of the maximum term of his prison sentence, or seven (7) years
in the case of a life sentence.
Privileges of a Colonist
Credit of an additional GCTA of five (5) days for each calendar month
while he retains said classification aside from the regular GCTA authorized
under Article 97 of the RPC (not applicable under present law) ;
41
To view the remains of a deceased relative and all its supporting
documents shall be filed with the Superintendent at least two (2) days
before the enjoyment of the privilege sought.
Inmate may be allowed more or less three (3) hours to view the deceased
relative in the place where the remains lie in state.
Time-Release Education
Thirty (30) days prior to his scheduled date of release, an inmate is transferred
to the Separation and Placement Center for the purposes of reorientation with the ways
of free society. Service of Non-Governmental Organization and their religious sector are
made possible to the offenders prior to release from prison to assist in their
reintegration to society.
Release
A release prisoner is supplied by the bureau with transportation fare to his home
plus gratuity of fifty pesos (P50.00) to cover the cost subsistence en route, and suit of
decent clothes.
Prison Jail
42
a penitentiary, an institution for a place of confinement for those
the imprisonment of persons who are awaiting for trial or are
convicted of major/serious those serving short sentences.
crimes.
Lock Up Jail
This is a security facility, usually operated by the police department, for the temporary
detention of persons held for investigation or awaiting trial.
SECTION 468. (4) (vii) Establish and provide the maintenance and improvement
of jails and detention centers, institute a sound jail management program, and
appropriate funds for the subsistence of detainees and convicted prisoners in the
province; R.A. 7160
The Provincial Jail System was first established in 1910 under the American
regime. Each of the seventy-six (76) provinces has a Provincial Jail is headed by a
Provincial Jail Warden which is appointed by the Provincial Governor, as well as
provincial jail guards with conformity with the Civil Service Law. The DILG serves as the
supervising agency in every Provincial Jail.
The management of our Provincial Jails and its program of rehabilitation are
dependent upon the Provincial Warden and the provincial government. Most of the
Provincial Jails today are faced with the congestion problem and funds. Today, there
are twenty-one (21) provincial government that have constructed their respective sub-
provincial jails to house prisoners whose prison terms range from six (6) months and
one (1) day to three (3) years. There are now a total of 812 (as of 1993) offenders
confined in these jails, which is being handled by 203 jails guards and personnel. The
seventy-six (76) Provincial Jails have confined 9,865 (as of 1993) offenders and still
growing. These offenders are being provided with 2,439 provincial guards’ task to
secure and provide reformation unto them.
43
Who is a Prisoner?
Detention Prisoners
detained for investigation, preliminary hearing, or awaiting trial. They are prisoners
under the jurisdiction of courts.
Sentenced Prisoners
offenders who are committed to jail or prison in order to serve their sentence after final
conviction by a competent court. They are prisoners under the jurisdiction of penal
institutions.
Provincial Prisoners
sentenced to suffer a term imprisonment from 6 months and 1 day to 3 years or a fine
not more than 1, 000.00 pesos or both.
City Prisoners
those sentenced to suffer a term of imprisonment from 1 day to 3 years or a fine of not
more than 1,000.00 pesos or both.
Municipal Prisoners
those confined in Municipal jails to serve an imprisonment from 1 day to 6 months.
Classification of Detainees
Undergoing investigation;
Awaiting or undergoing trial; and
Awaiting final judgment.
Legal Basis:
Sec. 60, R.A. 6975- the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology here in after
referred to as the jail bureau, is hereby created initially consisting of the existing
officers and non- uniform members of the office of the jail management and
penology as constituted under P.D. 765 under the defunct PCINP.
44
Sec. 61 R.A. 6975- provides that the Jail Bureau shall exercise supervision and
control over city and municipal jails. The provincial jails, shall be supervised and
controlled by the provincial government within its jurisdiction, whose expense
shall be subsidized by the National Government for not more than 3 years after
the affectivity of this act, and shall plan and program funds for the subsistence
allowance of the offender and conduct research, develop and implement plans
and programs for the improvement of jail services throughout the country.
Sec. 62 ibid- the jail bureau shall be headed by chief with the rank of Director
and assisted by a deputy with the rank of chief superintendent. The central office
serves as the main office staff, which is composed of three ranking official
members, six (6) directorial staff groups, and four personal staff groups.
Chief BJMP
Deputy Chief
Chief of Staff
Inspectorate Office
Community Relation office
Legal office
Internal office
Guidelines in Reception
and
Admission Procedures in Jails
45
Information;
Medical Certificate
Police Booking Sheet
In addition to the above enumerated documents, the Carpeta should also contain
the following, to wit:
46
Step 5. Orientation of inmate to jail rules and policies and about Article 29 of
the RPC/ R.A. 6127 (detainee’s manifestation) by the chief custodial or the
officer of the day.
Appraise the detainee, preferably in the dialect which he/she understands, that
under Article 29 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by R.A. 6127, that his
her preventive imprisonment shall be credited in the service of his/her sentence,
consisting of deprivation of liberty for the whole period he/she is detained if
he/she agrees voluntarily in writing to abide by the same disciplinary rules
imposed upon convicted prisoners; Provided, that he/she is not a recidivist, or
has not been previously convicted twice or more times of any crime; and when,
upon being summoned for the execution of his/her sentence, he/she surrendered
voluntarily.
Disciplinary Board
The board is tasked to implement discipline inside the jails just in case there are
violation of existing rules and policies.
COMPOSITION:
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Chairman- assistant warden
Members- chief security officer, medical/ public health officer, social
worker/ rehabilitation officer
Reprimand
Temp or permanent cancellation of some or all recreational privileges
Cancellation of visiting privileges
Extra fatigue duty for sentenced inmates only
Closed confinement
Transfer to another facility with court coordination
Limitation of Punishment
The aggrieved inmate shall inform any member of the custodial force of
the violation, the letter in turn, officially report the matter to the desk
officer. If one of the employees knows of the violation committed by the
inmate, a brief description of the circumstances surrounding or leading to
the reported violation and all facts relative to the case shall be made.
The warden shall evaluate the report and if he believes that there is no
sufficient evidence to support the alleged violation, he shall dismiss the
case. If he believes there exist sufficient evidence, he shall decide the
case and impose the necessary penalty in case of minor violation. If the
case is less grave or grave, he shall endorse it to the board for hearing or
decide it himself as a summary disciplinary officer if there is no disciplinary
board.
The inmate shall be confronted to the reported violation and ask how he
pleads to the charge. If he admit the violation or pleads guilty, the board
shall impose the corresponding punishment.
If the inmate denies the charge, the hearing shall commence with the
presentation of evidence and other witnesses by the desk officer. The
inmate shall then be given the opportunity to defend himself by his
testimony and those of his witness, if any, and to present other evidences
to prove his innocence.
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After the hearing, the board shall decide the case on the merits.
Minor Offenses:
Grave Offense:
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Keeping or concealing keys or locks of places in the jail where it is off
limits to offender.
Giving gift, selling to, or bartering with jail personnel
Keeping in his possession money, jewelry or other contraband which the
rules prohibit.
Tattooing others or allowing himself to be tattooed, or keeping any
paraphernalia for tattooing.
Forcibly taking or extracting money from fellow inmates.
Punishing or inflicting injury upon himself or other inmates.
Receiving, keeping, taking or imbedding liquor and other prohibited drugs.
Making , improvising or keeping any kind of deadly weapon.
Concealing or withholding information on plans of attempted escape.
Unruly conduct and behavior and flagrant of discipline and instructions.
Helping, adding or abetting others to escape.
Fighting causing any disturbance or participating there in and/ or agitating
to cause such disturbance or riot; and
Indecent , immoral or lascivious acts which by himself or other and/ or
allowing to be subject of such indecent, immoral or lascivious acts.
The control center shall immediately sound the alarm and inform the
warden in case of escape.
At the first sound of the alarm, the inmates shall be locked in their
respective cells.
All the first personnel, custodial and non-custodial force shall make
themselves available for deployment.
Personnel who have inmates under their care shall remain on duty; take
their accounting at the time of the emergency.
A simultaneous institution-wide count shall be made to determine the
numbers of inmates who escaped identities established.
As soon as the identities of the escapees are established, it shall be
published and all police precincts be immediately notified.
Radio and television stations should be immediately notified.
Recovery teams shall be sent out to all known liars, hangouts.
In case of mass jailbreaks, all the members of the custodial force shall
issued firearms and resigned to critical post to block the escape routes.
If an officer is held hostage, reasonable caution should be made to ensure
his/ her safety.
If the warden is held hostage, for all intents and purposes he ceases to
exercise authority and the next in command shall take the action.
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Maximum force shall be deployed for escapes found holding on in an area
to pressure them to surrender and avert their movements and an
investigation shall commence thereafter.
The criminal liability of the person is extinguished into two instances the partial
and total extinction of the criminal liability of the convicted felon.
Marriage of the offender with the offended woman after the commission o any of
the crimes of rape, Seduction, Abduction, or Acts of Lasciviousness must be
contracted by the offender in good faith. The marriage contracted only to avoid
criminal liability is devoid or has no legal effects and that the criminal liability of
the offender is not extinguish.
If the offender died before final judgment its pecuniary or civil liabilities is
extinguished. But, if the convict died after final judgment the pecuniary penalties
or civil liabilities is not extinguished. If the offended party died it does not
extinguished the civil and criminal liability of the offender due to the reason that
the offense is committed against the state.
3. By service of sentence
Crime is a debt by the offender as a consequence of his wrongful act and the
penalty is the amount of his debt. When the payment is made, the debt is
extinguished. After the convict has served its sentence its criminal liability is
extinguished but does not include the civil liability.
4. By amnesty, which completely extinguishes the penalty and all its effects:
5. By absolute Pardon
Absolute Pardon defined. It is an act grace proceeding from the power entrusted
with the execution of the laws, which exempts the individual on whom it is
bestowed from the punishment, the law inflicts for the crime he has committed.
Pardon will only extinguished the punishment of crime upon acceptance of the
grantee. Once pardon is accepted by the grantee the pardon already delivered
cannot be revoked by the authority, which granted pardon.
As practiced in the Philippines, there are two kinds of pardons, namely, the
absolute and conditional pardons.
Absolute Pardon - is one, which is given without any condition attached to it.
The purposes of this kind of pardon are:
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1. To do away with the miscarriage of justice - Under the present method of
judicial procedure justice is not guaranteed. It is possible to convict innocent
person, as it is possible for criminals to escape the hands of justice. When an
innocent convict has no more recourse through courts, the remedy is
absolute pardon. The power of the President to pardon offenders on the
grounds of innocence is rarely exercised because the criminal procedures are
liberal in granting a new trial in the case of an offender has no more legal
remedy will pardon of this nature be given. If so exercised, absolute pardon
is granted after an exhaustive investigation is conducted and upon
recommendation of the Secretary of Justice.
3. To restore full political and civil rights of persons who have already served
their sentence and have waited the prescribed period. The greatest number
of application for absolute pardon come from ex-prisoners who desire to be
restored their political and civil rights. In the Philippines, the Office of the
President laid down the policy to grant absolute pardon to ex-prisoners ten
years from the date of their release from prison. Recently the policy was
relaxed, thereby shortening the waiting period of five years. The waiting
period is required to give the offender an opportunity to demonstrate that he
has established a new pattern of conduct.
Absolute Pardon does not work to restore the right to hold public office or the
right to suffrage, unless such rights are expressly restored by the terms of pardon. A
pardon does not exempt the offender from the payment of civil indemnity imposed
upon him by the sentence. Absolute pardon totally extinguishes the criminal liability but
not the right of the offended party to enforce the civil liability against the offender.
In Cristobal vs. Labrador, et al., 71 Phil. 34, the Supreme Court laid down the
doctrine that the absolute pardon removes all that is left of the consequences of
conviction, and that it is absolute in so far it restores the pardonee to full civil and
political rights.
In another case, the supreme Court reiterated the doctrine laid down on the
Cristobal vs. Labrador case and elucidated further that “an absolute pardon not only
blots out the crime but removes all disabilities resulting from the conviction; and that
when granted after the term of imprisonment has expired, absolute pardon removes all
that is left of the consequences of conviction.” (Polobello vs. Palatino, 72 Phil.441 )
Pardon includes any crime and is exercised individually by the Chief Executive,
while amnesty is a blanket pardon granted to a group of prisoners, generally political
prisoners. Pardon is exercised when the person is already convicted while amnesty
may be given before trial or investigation is had.
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In Barrio Quinto, et al., vs. Fernandez, O.G. 303, the Supreme Court
distinguished pardon from amnesty in that, “pardon is granted by the Chief Executive
and such it is a private act which must be placed and proved by the person pardoned,
because the courts take no notice thereof; while amnesty is by proclamation with
concurrence of Congress, and it is a public act which the courts should take judicial
notice. Pardon is granted to one after conviction, while amnesty is granted to classes of
persons who may be guilty of political offenses, generally before or after the institution
of criminal prosecution and sometimes after conviction. “
The power of the chief Executive to grant pardon is limited to the following:
1. Pardon cannot be extended to cases of impeachment. (Art VII, Soc. 10, Par.
2, Constitution of the Philippine).
2. No pardon, parole or suspension of sentence for the violation of any election
law may be granted without favorable recommendation of the Commission of
Elections. “(Art. X, Soc. 2, Par. 2 Constitution of the Philippines)”
3. Pardon is exercised only after conviction.
It is an elementary principle in political law that pardon can only be given after
final conviction. Cases pending trial or an appeal are still within the exclusive jurisdiction
of the courts hence, pursuant to the theory of separation of powers, the Chief Executive
has no jurisdiction over the accused.
1. By conditional Pardon
2. By Commutation of Sentence
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In either case, the degree of penalty is reduced from death to reclusion perpetua. In
commutation of sentence, consent of the offender is not necessary. The public welfare
not his consent determines what shall be done.
The conduct of any prisoner in any penal constitution shall entitle him to the
following deductions from the period of his sentence;
Special time allowance for loyalty. – A deduction of one fifth of the period
of his sentence shall be granted to any prisoner who, having evaded his
preventive imprisonment or the service of his sentence under the
circumstances mentioned in Article 158 of this Code, gives himself up to
the authorities within 48 hours following the issuance of a proclamation
announcing the passing away of the calamity or catastrophe referred to in
said article.
Authority to Grant
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the parole law. However, when this prisoner has already been reformed, he may be
released on conditional pardon.
The purpose of conditional pardon and parole is the same – the release of a
prisoner who is already reformed in order that he can continue to serve his sentence
outside of the institution, thus giving him the opportunity to gradually assume the
responsibilities of a free man. Both releases are subject to the same set of conditions
will subject the parolee or pardonee to be recommitted to prison. The only difference
between the two is the granting authority. In parole the granting authority is the Board
of Pardons and Parole, while in conditional pardon, the granting authority is the
President.
In the Philippines, the pardonee is given the same set of rules or conditions as
the parolee. Among the conditions usually imposed on pardonees and parolees are the
following:
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1. That he shall live in his parole residence and shall not change his residence
during the period of his parole without first obtaining the consent of the Board of
Pardons and Parole.
2. If the parolee or pardonee leaves the parole jurisdiction temporarily, he needs
not get the permission of the Board, although he may so inform his parole officer
(Municipal Judge) of his where about.
3. That he shall report to the Municipal Judge (of the town where he will reside) or
to such officer as may be designated by the Executive Officer of the Board of
Pardons and Parole during the first year once a month and, thereafter, once
every two months or as often as he may be required by said officer.
4. That he shall not indulge in any injurious or vicious habits, and shall avoid places
or persons of disreputable or harmful character.
5. That he shall permit the Provincial Commander, Philippine Constabulary or any
officer designated by the Executive Officer of the Board to visit him at reasonable
times at his place of abode or elsewhere and shall truthfully answer any
reasonable inquiries concerning his conduct or conditions.
6. That he shall not commit any crime and shall conduct himself in an orderly
manner.
7. That he shall pay not less than P50.00 a month to the cashier of the Department
of Justice in payment of the indemnity imposed upon him.
8. That he shall comply with such orders as the Board or its Executive Officer may
from time to time make.
The power vested on the President by the Constitution to grant pardon is very
broad and exclusive. It is not subject to review by the courts. Neither does congress
have the right to establish conditions nor provide procedure for the exercise of pardon.
Under these circumstances, it is therefore possible that unscrupulous Chief Executive
can abuse his power. In fact, nearly every presidential election the alleged abuse of the
pardoning power has come up as campaign issue against the incumbent President. The
truth of the charge has never been investigated, but the fact that the alleged anomaly
is aired publicly is an indication that the power to grant pardon may be abused.
There are certain safeguards, however, against the abuse of the pardoning
power. First is the constitutional provision that the President may be impeached for a
willful violation of the Constitution. This is enough deterrent for the Chief Executive to
abuse this power. Second, is the policy of the Office of the Chief Executive, ever since
the time of the American Governors General, to approve pardon cases, which are
favorably recommended by the Board of Pardons and Parole. Although this policy does
not wholly bind the President, seldom, if ever, has it been disregarded.
Judges are human beings and are therefore apt to commit errors. It is possible
for an innocent to get convicted, as it is possible for a criminal to escape the hands of
justice. An innocent man may not be able to present evidence to prove his innocence,
or may not have the money to hire a good counsel. Many of our penal laws are
outmoded and are no longer kept abreast with current trends of criminal justice
administration. Judges are limited by laws to the use of discretion they may exercise in
any given case. Under any of the above circumstances, an injustice may result, which
can only be remedied by the exercise of pardon.
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OTHER FORMS OF EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY
AMNESTY
The Supreme Court, in the case of People vs. Santos, et al., 47 O.G. 6168, stated
that the “purpose of amnesty is to bring about the return of dissidents and recalcitrant
elements of our population to their homes and the resumption by them of their lawful
pursuits, or occupations, as loyal and law-abiding citizens, to accelerate the
rehabilitation of the war-devastated country, restore peace and order, and secure the
welfare and happiness of the communities.”
Amnesty looks backward and abolishes and puts into oblivion the offense itself.
It so overlooks and obliterates the offense with which he is charged that the person
released by amnesty stands before the law as though he had committed no offense.
Amnesty is extended to convict as well as persons who have not yet been tried
by the court. Some of the proclamations of amnesty are as follows:
COMMUTATION
1. To break the rigidity of the law - Some penal laws are rigid and unusually cruel.
For example, a law making qualified theft, the stealing of young coconuts from
trees, or fish from the fishpond, or sugar cane from the sugar cane field.
Qualified theft imposes an unusually heavy penalty on the culprit, which is
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greatly misappropriated to the value of article stolen. Even if the judge would
want to impose a light penalty, he could not do so because his hands are tied by
the provision of the law. The sentence in this case may be reduced by
commutations of sentence.
2. To extend parole in cases where the parole law does not apply - Commutation
enables the recipient to be released on parole when his sentence does not allow
him parole, like, for example, when the sentence is determinate or life sentence,
or when the prisoner is serving two or more sentences. The sentence may be
changed to an indeterminate sentence by commutation to enable the recipient to
receive parole after serving the minimum of the sentence.
3. To save the life of a person sentenced to death - This is one of the most
common uses of commutation of sentence. In the Philippines, 95% of death
penalty cases are commuted to life imprisonment.
Procedures in Commutations
When the sentence of death penalty is confirmed by the Supreme Court, the
condemned man or the head of the prison system (Director of Prisons) may file a
petition for commutation. The prisoner is subjected to a social, psychological and
psychiatric examination by the Staff of the Reception Center. The inquiry will include
the sociological history of the prisoner, his criminal history, mental psychological
capacities, work history, etc., the purpose of which is to determine the degree of
involvement in crime the prisoner is in, and to determine if he deserves to be given a
new lease in life. The petition is then forwarded to the Board of Pardons and Parole,
together with the reports of examinations of the reception and Diagnostic Center and
the recommendation of the Director of Prison on the petition.
The Board of Pardons and Parole processes the petition and will deliberate on a
recommendation after a careful study of the papers, including the reports of the
Reception and Diagnostic Center. It will them forward the petition, including its
recommendation to the President. The President will then act on the petition. In giving
or denying commutation, the President may not follow the recommendation of the
Board of Pardons and Parole.
REPRIEVE
Reprieve is a temporary stay of the execution of the sentence. Like pardon, the
President can only exercise reprieve when the sentence has become final. Generally,
reprieve is extended to death penalty prisoners. The date of the execution of sentence
is set back several days to enable the Chief Executive to study the petition of the
condemned man for commutation of sentence or pardon.
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“If the prisoner does not forfeit his statutory good conduct time allowance through
misbehavior, he is released at time earned. He is released under supervision as if on
parole and subjected to all parole condition which, if violated, will result in the issuance
of a warrant, revocation of his release, and the requirement that he return to prison to
serve the maximum term.”
In the Philippines, the prisoner who is released from prison after serving his
sentence less the good conduct time allowance, is released without any condition and is
considered to have served his sentence in full.
Act No. 2489, otherwise known as the Industrial Good Time Law, provides that
when a prisoner has been classified as trusty or penal colonists, he is given an
additional 5 days time allowance for every month of service. A prisoner serving life
sentence has his sentence automatically reduced to 30 years of imprisonment upon
attaining the classification of trusty or penal colonists.
PROBATION
Probation - A term coined by John Augustus, from the Latin verb "probare" –
which means to prove or to test.
History of Probation
The origins of probation can be traced to English criminal law of the Middle Ages.
Harsh punishments were imposed on adults and children alike for offenses that were
not always if a serious nature. Sentences such as branding, flogging, mutilation and
execution were common. During the time of King Henry VIII, for instance, no less than
200 crimes were punishable by death, many of which were minor offenses.
Eventually, the courts began the practice of "binding over for good behavior," a
form of temporary release during which offenders could take measures to secure
pardons or lesser sentences. Controversially, certain courts in due time began
suspending sentences.
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In the United States, particularly in Massachusetts, different practices were being
developed. "Security for good behavior," also known as good aberrance, was much like
modern bail: the accused paid a fee as collateral for good behavior. Filing was also
practiced in cases that did not demand an immediate sentence. Using this procedure,
indictments were "laid on file" or held in abeyance. To mitigate unreasonable
mandatory penalties, judges often granted a motion to quash based upon minor
technicalities or errors in the proceedings. Although these American practices were
genuine precursors to probation, it is the early use of recognizance and suspended
sentence that are directly related to modern probation.
Two names are most closely associated with the founding of probation: Matthew
Davenport Hill, an 18th century English barrister and judge, and John Augustus, a 19th
Century Boston boot-maker.
In 1841, John Augustus attended police court to bail out a "common drunkard,"
the first probationer. The offender was ordered to appear in court three weeks later
sentencing. He returned to court a sober man, accompanied by Augustus. To the
astonishment of all in attendance, his appearance and demeanor had dramatically
changed. Augustus thus began an 18-year career as a volunteer probation officer. Not
all of the offenders helped by Augustus were alcohol abusers, nor were all prospective
probationers taken under his wing. Close attention was paid to evaluating whether or
not a candidate would likely prove to be a successful subject of probation. The
offender's character, age and the people, places and things apt to influence him/her
were all considered.
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Chicago in 1899. Formalization of the concept of Intake is credited to the founders of
the Illinois juvenile court. Soon after, thirty states in turn introduced probation as a part
of juvenile court procedure. Today, all states offer both juvenile and adult probation.
The administrative structure of probation varies widely from state to state. In some
states, probation and parole are combined. There are state-administered probation
systems and locally administered systems. In New York, probation is locally
administered under the general supervision of the state.
Probation in New York State had its official beginning in 1901, with the
enactment of the first probation in the state. One of the commission's recommendations
in its report to the Legislature resulted in the creation of the New York State Probation
Commission in 1907. Until the late 1920s, this commission coordinated probation work
in various parts of the state, encouraging the statewide development of probation
services, the planned and promoted standards of practice, and guidelines for monitoring
local probation services.
Probation was first introduced in the Philippines during the American colonial
period (1898 - 1945) with the enactment of Act No. 4221 of the Philippine Legislature
on 7 August 1935. This law created a Probation Office under the Department of Justice.
On November 16, 1937, after barely two years of existence, the Supreme Court of the
Philippines declared the Probation Law unconstitutional because of some defects in the
law's procedural framework.
In 1972, House Bill No. 393 was filed in Congress, which would establish a
probation system in the Philippines. This bill avoided the objectionable features of Act
4221 that struck down the 1935 law as unconstitutional. The bill was passed by the
House of Representatives, but was pending in the Senate when Martial Law was
declared and Congress was abolished. In 1975, the National Police Commission
Interdisciplinary drafted a Probation Law. After 18 technical hearings over a period of
six months, the draft decree was presented to a selected group of 369 jurists,
penologists, civic leaders and social and behavioral scientists and practitioners. The
group overwhelmingly indorsed the establishment of an Adult Probation System in the
country.
On 24 July 1976, Presidential Decree No. 968, also known as Adult Probation
Law of 1976, was signed into Law by the President of the Philippines. The
operationalization of the probation system in 1976-1977 was a massive undertaking
during which all judges and prosecutors nationwide were trained in probation methods
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and procedures; administrative and procedural manuals were developed; probation
officers recruited and trained, and the central agency and probation field offices
organized throughout the country. Fifteen selected probation officers were sent to
U.S.A. for orientation and training in probation administration. Upon their return, they
were assigned to train the newly recruited probation officers. The probation system
started to operate on January 3, 1978. As more probation officers were recruited and
trained, more field offices were opened.
Probation is given in cases that the ends of justice do not require that the
offender go to prison. This is also when all the following circumstances exist: that there
is a strong likelihood that the defendant will reform; that there is a little danger of
seriously injuring or harming members of the society by committing further crimes; that
the crime he committed is not one that is repugnant to society; that he has no previous
record of conviction; and that the deterrent effect of imprisonment on other criminals is
nit required. The person who is placed on probation is not a free man because he is
required to live within specified area. He is deprived of certain rights and privileges of
citizenship, but he retains some other rights and is entitled to the dignity of man.
Purpose of Probation
1. “Probation, like parole and imprisonment, has as its primary objective the
protection of society against crime. Its methods may differ, but its broader
purpose must be to serve the great end of all organized justice – the protection
of the community… probation is an extension of the powers of the court over the
future behavior and destiny of the convicted person such as is not retained in
other dispositions of criminal case…
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Advantages of Probation
“The great desideratum was the giving to young and new violators of law a
chance to reform and to escape the contaminating influence of association with
hardened or veteran criminals in the beginning of the imprisonment… Probation is the
attempted saving of a man who has taken one wrong step and whom the judge think to
be a brand who can be plucked from the burning at the time of the imposition of the
sentence. “
During the early stages of probation the appointment of probation officers and
the administration of probation services were considered as court functions. Later,
probation service was provided to serve all courts within a City or County such courts as
juvenile, domestic, municipal and criminal. In this type of probation service, the
probation officers are appointed by the Civil Service Bureau or Commission. In recent
years there has been a trend toward a state integrated probation and parole service
for:
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History of Parole
The word Parole has a French origins in the term Parole D’Honneur which
means, “Word of Honor”. The idea of parole began emerging as Mirabeau of French
statesman suggested the function of parole into the court before his death in 1791. The
beginning of parole was very controversial in the process of correctional system.
Captain Alexander Marconochie started it under the concept of mark system, as a result
he was removed as warden at Norfolk Island Australia. Sir Walter Crofton in 1854
continued the vision of Maconochie in the form of Irish ticket-of-leave. In 1876 parole
was first introduced at Elmira Reformatory under Zebulon Brockway. Although parole
was used in United States in 1846 as a type of conditional release but it was not
popularized.
Massachusetts was the first state to officially establish parole service. Michigan
State in 1867 introduces first the indeterminate sentencing through the influence of
Brockway, as he was the Superintendent of Detroit Houston of correction.
Parole consist of the suspension of the sentence of a convict after having served
the minimum of the sentence imposed without the granting of a pardon, prescribing the
terms upon which the sentence shall be suspended.
Parole restores gradual freedom to the prisoners and bridges the gap between
the highly controlled and regimented prison life to the free life in the community. This
conditional release is subject with conditions are violated by the parolee, he will be
brought back to the prison to several its remaining term.
PAROLE SYSTEM
The Board of Parole should be vested by law wide latitude of powers, which
include the following:
The institutional classification or parole officer keeps up-to-date the running case
summary of the prisoner and makes said records available to the parole boards from
which it can base final parole action. He is responsible for the preparation the admission
summary of the prisoner, which includes the record of the present and previous criminal
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offenses, a social history; religious history psychological and psychiatric study,
employment and educational accomplishment; and complete analysis of the community
arid situation: The institutional parole officer submits "progress reports" on the
prisoners' program and training as the inmates serve their sentences.
Administrative Structure
The parole system in the Philippines falls under the third plan. Generally
a parole office headed by an executive officer called Parole Administrator or Chief
Parole Officer administers parole. The Chief of the Parole Office executes the policies
formulated by the Board of Parole, and carries out the functions of parole. A parole
agency has two important units or subdivisions aside from the administrative and other
auxiliary service units. The principal subdivisions are the investigation and Supervision
Divisions.
Parole Investigation
Parole Selection
One of the most important functions of the Investigation Division is to help the
parole board in the selection of prisoners for parole. This cannot be determined merely
by the length of time served. If a prisoner is paroled too soon and while still
maladjusted, he may fail and return to prison. On the other hand if the prisoner is
retained too long, he may be embittered, depressed, become apathetic or get
discouraged, so" that when released he may fail to reestablish himself, adequately in
society. The institutional record a one cannot be used as an index of a prisoner's
readiness for parole because some men with deeply and socially dangerous patterns of
criminality are shrewd enough to maintain a good institutional record and yet be
actually among those with the poorest likelihood to succeed on parole.
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is responsible for the evaluation of the inmates program from the standpoint of its
usefulness after release.
Tools in Selection
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3. The Inmate’s own plans and concern over parole
Preferred place of residence
Type of work desired.
Family relations.
Problems anticipated by inmate.
Other matters
The parole referral summary represents the final evaluation of the effect upon
the inmates of this investment in their welfare by society. The parole referral summary
is sent to the field officers of the parole bureau. This document represents a general
plan for the care and treatment of the parolee. Circumstances may require
modifications of the recommendations contained by the paroling agency, yet the parole
referral summary remains the basic clinical document for the determination of the
man's program upon release, since it represents a comprehensive study by the
institutional staff of his entire life.
Pre-Parole Investigation
The primary duty of the parole board is the proper selection of prisoners to be
released on parole. It is the prime concern of the board to determine whether parole
applicants are capable of living in the community and remaining at liberty without
violating laws. It must also determine whether the release of the prisoner is compatible
with the welfare of society.
The investigation division of the parole office takes charge of making a pre-
parole investigation for reference and guidance of the board in the proper selection of
prisoners for parole. The parole officer making the pre-parole investigation collates all in
formations regarding the inmate contained in various documents or reports, namely,
the comments from the sentencing judge, comments from the prosecuting fiscal, _and
a further analysis of the many studies and contacts made by the trained prison staff
during the period of the inmates’ imprisonment.
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Parole hearings may be commenced by a written petition of the prisoner or by
his relatives. In an institution where casework method is highly developed, there is no
need for the prisoner to file a petition since the institutional classification committee,
motu propio initiates parole proceedings the moment the prisoner becomes eligible.
Several methods are used in selecting prisoners for parole. Some boards of
parole conduct interviews in the prison with the entire membership present to
interrogate the prisoner. In some jurisdictions, the board does not conduct interviews
with the prisoners but depends solely on the recorded material. In the United States
Board of Parole, the board does not meet en bane to interview the prisoner. Instead,
each of the five board members interviews all prisoners eligible for parole in a particular
institution. His interviews are recorded in verbatim He prepares a complete resume and
analysis of case. His findings are contained in the detailed summary, which he prepares
after the interview. The other members of the board who may or may not concur with
his recommendation review this summary.
Cases of prisoners serving more than five years or cases wherein a major policy
is involved, and cases offering difficult factors in planning are resolved by the board en
bane.
The date of release of a parolee does not take place earlier than one month nor
exceed six months from the date parole is granted. This will give sufficient time for the
supervising parole officer to complete and verify the parole release plan. Only in
exceptional cases are parolees granted immediately upon approval by the board. Cases
that are denied by the board may be rescheduled for hearing after at least six months
from the date of denial.
The parole, officer serves as a good liaison between the prison and the parole
board on the one hand, and the community on the other hand. He interprets the
problems and needs of the prisoner to his family, his prospective employer and the
community for the eventual return of the prisoner.
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government. These three agencies should be integrated as parts of a full-coverage
policy of corrections and they should operate in harmony with a single objective: the
wholesome rehabilitation of the offender.
The supervision of parolees is one of the most important aspects of the whole
rehabilitative process. The character of the supervision largely determines the success
or failure of any given case. Supervision of parolees has three aspects: organizational,
regulational and operational.
Organizational Aspect
The Federal government of the United States combines parole supervision with
probation supervision. It has no parole field service hence parolees are turned over to
the district court probation officers for supervision.
Some big states have centralized parole supervision services. This sort of
centralized parole supervision service may involve district offices, with parole officers
working out of them, but all of these services are controlled and budgeted from a
central state office. In smaller states that do not justify establishment of district offices,
parole officers are assigned to cover certain territories usually covering several counties
and are directed from the central office. In a few jurisdictions, parole supervision is an
adjunct of the prison because a centralized parole service is not economically justified.
Recently, federal and state laws were passed providing for parole and probation
compacts, whereby states enter into reciprocal agreements to allow a parolee or
probation to be supervised by another state.
Some centralized parole supervision units are separate state units or bureaus
under the department of welfare or division within the department of corrections.
Sometimes they are a part of the total parole board organization.
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fault of his like when he cannot find or hold a job, it should not be a reason to
revoke parole already given. The treatment of a parolee aims at helping him
become a more responsible citizen, so that requiring him to meet his obligations,
is but one way of training him along said virtue. It protects his dependents and
at the same time aids the parolee on his path toward maturity and stability.
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10. Keeping Curfew Hours. The purpose of this rule is discouragement of
unwholesome habit that may lead to troubles. An ex-prisoner is prone to being
suspected by the police whenever an unsolved crime is committed. In order to
evade being a suspect, the parolee should agree to keep reasonable hours at
night.
14. Prescription against the Use or Sale of Narcotics. This rule needs no
further discussion. Even free men are prohibited from using narcotics without
medical prescription, or selling them.
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view that parolees, being persons who have not been able to make adjustments with
the demands of society, should be applied certain restraints under threats of arrest and
reincarceration. Not all parolees, according to this view, respond to the guidance
counseling or leadership techniques of supervision, hence the need for the authoritarian
method for this type of persons.
Experience in various parole agencies, however, proved that the two points of
view expressed above are without basis. It was satisfactorily proven in many
jurisdictions that some parole officers with professional training in social work made
good as peace officers while others whose basic training was in law enforcement made
good as case workers
Classifications of Cases
The quality of service that a parole office renders to the parolee depends on the
size or caseload parole officers have. One cannot expect adequate supervision from a
parole officer who has 750 parolees to supervise.
Parole supervision can be simplified and made more effective by adopting a sys- '
tern of classifying parolees. Some parolees do not have pressing problems as they
arise. The accidental offender belongs to this type. This type of parolees needs very
little or no supervision from the field parole officers.
Another classification of parolees is the type that needs casework as the primary
consideration of treatment. The parolees may not be serious community- risks. An
example of this type is the parolee who is in need of a job or economic aid. Here the
field parole officer can devote full attention to intensive casework that is, trying to help
his client get a job.
Knowing the type of offenders his wards are, the parole officer can adjust his
schedule of supervision, devoting intensive supervision to parolees belonging to the
third type while giving little time for parolees of the first type.
Casework Techniques
The parole officer as caseworker, he can use casework techniques, among which
are:
Manipulative Techniques
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1. Job finding — some parole systems have their own employment
bureaus, the main function of which is to locate jobs for parolees. By
providing a job the parolee may become a permanent law-abiding citizen. In
some cases, the parole officer himself tries to find a job for his ward.
Executive Techniques
This is a method of helping parolees by which the parole office performs referral
services. Parole agencies do not often have the necessary funds for direct
administration of parolees under care, so that the most that parole can offer by way of
help is to refer the parolee to agencies offering the services desired.
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dependent children, in order that he can refer his clients who are eligible to
any of such grants.
9. Social agency help - There are several agencies, public and private,
that may offer services to parolees. The parole officer should be well
acquainted with what those agencies can offer to his wards.
These techniques require, that the parole officer must be well versed with the
science of human behavior. He should know the motivations, which cause the person to
react the way he did under certain situations. He should try to determine what caused
his ward to follow a certain cause of action. He should attempt to influence and guide
his clients into solving their problems.
Guidance and leadership are temporary crutches upon which the parolees
depend in overcoming their difficulties. Sometime or another the parolees will no longer
depend on the services of the parole officer. The parolees should be taught to gain
insight into their problems and how to solve them. It is not guidance and leadership if
the parole officer himself does the solving of the problem for the parolee.
In guidance and leadership technique, the parole officer seeks to exert a direct
personal influence on the parolee. The advice of the parole officer may spell the
difference between going straight and going the wrong way by the parolee. The
parolees' thinking can be properly guided by the parole officer so that they may be able
to solve their own problems under the same or similar situations.
Parole Advisor
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The parole advisor is primarily and essentially a volunteer worker. He works as
an unpaid parole officer, a non-professional counselor, adviser, first friend, and sponsor
to the parolee. When parole was newly introduced, the parolee was required to report
to a sponsor known as guardian who performed the functions of advisor and parole
officer. The untrained, unpaid volunteer workers of the Elmira days are now relegated
to perform the role of parole advisers.
The parole system of the U.S. Federal Government has adopted the parole
advisor system. The policy of the Federal Parole administration is that the parolee must
have some citizens to serve voluntarily as his parole advisor. This requirement has been
abolished in several states and is now waived by the U.S. Board of Parole when a
satisfactory advisor is not available, in which case the probation officer is named parole
advisor in addition to his duties as supervising officer.
The parole advisor can be of great help to the parole service during the pre-
release planning. The advisor who may have known the prospective parolee intimately
for some time can help in the preparation of the parole program. The interest shown by
the advisor on the would-be parolee can be exploited and developed by the parole
officer to a productive and helpful service throughout the ensuing parole period.
It is desirable that the field probation officer and the parole advisor should work
as a team. In order to obtain full cooperation of the advisor, the parole officer should
show its appreciation for the assistance of the parole advisor. The advisor can be of
service more effectively in rural areas where the parole officer cannot regularly visit.
The parolee can always turn to his parole advisor for immediate help because the
parole officer is not available for immediate counsel and advice when pressing problems
arise. Furthermore, the parole officer may have to depend on the advisor for reliable
information regarding the parolee’ conduct, as well as his adjustment.
There are two types of parole violators: commission of a new crime and violation
of a parole condition. In the first type, conviction of a new crime by the parole will
automatically cause recommitment of the parolee. If the parole is convicted but appeals
his case in the higher court, the parole officer will submit a report of said conviction and
appeal to the Board of Parole which will decide, after due investigation, on
recommitting the parolee or not. If it is violation of parole condition only, the Board of
Parole shall conduct an investigation, giving careful consideration on whether the act
was willful, whether the safety of the public is involved, and whether other disciplinary
action than recommitment to prison might be sufficient.
Parole Boards are authorized to issue warrants for the arrest of alleged parole
violators or to issue notices to appear to answer charges where arrest is not necessary.
Parole officers are authorized to arrest or cause the arrest without a warrant where
immediate action is necessary against the violator or one who is in danger of becoming
a violator. The parole officer should submit a written report of the violation to the
parole board. Releases from the jail of alleged violators should be on order of the parole
board only.
Ordinarily, a detainer or warrant against a prisoner does not disqualify him from
parole. The prisoner may be given parole subject to the action taken on the detainer.
The duration of parole supervision does not extend beyond the expiration date of
the parolee’s sentence. Parole conditions and other aspects of parole supervision should
be relaxed as the parolee no longer requires the restriction on his behavior. At the
expiration of the maximum sentence, the parole board should issue a certificate of final
discharge. The same certificate may be issued even before the expiration of the
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maximum sentence should the board, after reviewing the case, is satisfied that parole
has served its purpose.
The certificate of discharge from parole has the effect of restoring all civil rights
lost by operation of law. This is not, however, true in the Philippines. It needs an
executive clemency in the form of absolute pardon to restore said rights.
Correctional programs are more and more recognized as the responsibility of the
total community. It is a well-known fact that a correctional program, no matter how
well developed, cannot succeed without the support of the general public. It is essential
that probation, the institution, and parole should enlist the cooperation of community
agencies, voluntary societies, citizens groups and the community in general in order to
succeed in their mission of placing the offender back to society as a normal social
being.
Some of the community agencies closely related to corrections are the following:
4. Mental Hygiene and Mental Health Clinics – These clinics may provide
psychiatric services to prisoner’s families, parolees, probationers and their
families.
5. Philippine Red Cross – The Red Cross provides home services, disaster relief,
blood program, eye program and other relief.
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8. Colleges and Universities – Colleges and universities are a potent agency for
molding public opinion through their courses in criminology and penology. They
offer in-service training courses for correctional workers. Prison, parole and
probation offer a valuable research setting for advanced students in sociology,
psychology, criminology, social work and other behavioral and social sciences.
The main function of the early volunteer organizations in the correctional field
was the investigation and reform of noxious prison conditions. The Pennsylvania Prison
Society, which was founded in 1707, was mainly organized to “alleviate miseries of the
public prisons.” The Prison Association of New York founded in 1844 was definitely
organized to extend relief to discharged prisoners.
The development of new techniques and new understanding of the needs of the
offenders during the last few years had changed and modified the functions of
prisoners aid associations. In the last few decades, as social casework methods have
been developed and refined, emphasis on prisoner’s aid have shifted to helping the
individual prisoner gain insight into his difficulties and developing strength within
himself in order that he may become a law-abiding and useful citizen. As a result, the
number of privately operated prisoner’s aid societies has decreased. Among the few
organizations that have remained active in this type of work are the John Howard
Societies in the United States, Canada, and come European countries, and the Elizabeth
fry societies in Canada. The International Aid Association, which is an affiliate of the
American Correctional Association, serves the important function of a coordinating
agency and provides services useful to existing and proposed agencies.
In the Philippines a few volunteer agencies that are working in prisons and jails
are the religious groups with religious motivators. A few years ago, civic-minded citizens
interested to help the families of prisoners as well as ex-prisoners launched Friendship
Incorporated. This association gets its funds from private donations and contributions.
The Philippines Charity Sweepstakes allots one sweepstake draw a year to supplement
the funds of the association. Services so far rendered by this association have been
limited to finding jobs for the few ex-prisoners, and providing limited financial aid to ex-
prisoners getting started in life.
Voluntary agencies rendering services in the correctional field are very effective
as public information media. Correctional agencies have very limited resources for
disseminating to the public whatever gains they have accomplished toward the
improvement of correctional methods. Volunteer agencies contribute in public
information and information programs as well as help mobilize public opinion toward
improved correctional methods. Private aid agencies provide leadership and work with
welfare and social agency councils, universities, schools of social work and other
professional societies. They conduct public information programs through the
assignment of speakers, preparation of radio and television programs.
Sponsorship of various projects in cooperation with the jails and prisons. Some of
the services that prisoners’ aid societies render are the following:
1. Free legal services – Defendants who cannot afford to hire a lawyer may be
given free legal services through prisoner’s aid societies.
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3. Visitation service – Some agencies visits jails and prisons to discuss personal
problems with prisoners desiring their help, referring suitable cases to the legal
aid society for free legal assistance, and working in close cooperation with the
institutional authorities.
Sec. 1705 Title of Chapter – This chapter shall be known as the Prison
Law.
Sec. 1706 Chief Officials of the Bureau of Prisons – The Bureau of Prisons
shall have one chief and one assistant chief, to be known respectively as the
Director of Prisons, and the Assistant Director of the Prisons. These officers shall
be supplied with furnished quarter at the main prison and shall be allowed
laundry service and such other services as shall be sanctioned by the
Department Head.
Sec. 1707 General Jurisdiction of Bureau of Prisons shall have the general
supervision and control of National Provincial prisons of all penal settlements and
shall be charged with the safekeeping of all prisoners confined therein or
committed to the custody of said Bureau.
Sec. 1708 Main Prison – In the main prison shall be confined all national
prisoners except as otherwise provided by law or regulations. This prison may
also be used as a place of detention for other classes of prisoners or for the
temporary safekeeping of any person detained upon legal process.
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supervision of a superintendent, who shall be an “exofficio” justice of the peace
and shall, within the limits of the colony, have jurisdiction and all powers
conferred upon justices of the peace by the laws of the Philippines. (No longer
applicable)
Sec .1711 privileges based upon behavior and services – Persons detained
at the Iwahig Penal Colony shall be known as colonists, and they may be divided
into classes and graded according to conduct, efficiency, and length of services
and subject to such regulations as shall be prescribed in reference thereto, they
may be granted such extraordinary privileges as in the in the judgment of the
superintendent of the colony their conduct, behavior, habits of industry, and
length of service may justify.
Sec. 1712 Fishing rights in water adjacent to colony – The fishing right in
the waters of the bay along the shore line of the eastern boundary of the Iwahig
Penal Colony, Island of Palwan, for distance seaward of one and one quarter
statute miles are reserved for the exclusive use of the government, for the
subsistence and maintenance of the colonist, the prison officials and their
families in said colony, and such pardoned or release colonist as may continue to
reside therein.
Sec. 1714 Families of colonists – The Iwahig Colonists may, subject to the
regulations of the Bureau governing the colony, be allowed to have their wives,
children, and women to whom they are to be married, transported to the colony
at government expense and to have their families live on the reservation. Such
privileges may, in any case, be revoked at any time by order of the
superintendent of the colony, with the approval of the Director of Prisons. All
members of the families of colonists living on the reservation shall be subject to
the regulations governing the colony.
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allowed to continue to reside upon the reservation and to cultivate land occupy a
house to be designated and selected by the superintendent of the colony.
Sec. 1719 Supply store for Iwahig Penal Colony – The Director of Prisons,
with the approval of the Department Head, shall establish and maintain a general
store for the sale of merchandise which may be required by the residents of the
settlement, and for their own profit. Colony produce may be sold to others than
residents of the settlement should there be more to be disposed of than is
required for the use of the colony and the main prisons. The supply store fund
shall be reimbursable, the receipts from the business of the supply store being
available for the payment of the costs of supply and other expenses incident to
the conduct of said store, without re-appropriation.
Sec. 1720 San Ramon Penal Farm – A penal farm shall be maintained at
San Ramon, in the Province of Zamboanga , for the confinement of national
prisoners and such other prisoners as may be remitted thereto in accordance
with law. The Director of Prisons shall have authority to designate the
superintendent of the San Ramon Penal Farm as a summary court officer, by
whom members of the San Ramon Penal Farm guard may be tried for violation
of the regulations governing the same for willful or neglectful waste, loss or
destruction of arm, immunizations or accouterments, for disobedience or
disrespect toward their superior officers, absence from quarters of duty without
leave, drunkenness, abandonment of employment without having secured proper
release, willful violation or neglect of duty, or misconduct to the prejudice of
good order and discipline. The punishment which may be imposed by this
summary court shall not exceed the forfeiture of one month’s pay, or discharge.
Sec. 1727 Liability of prisoners to labor – All convicted able bodied, male
prisoners not over sixty years of age, may be compelled to work in and about
prisons, jails public buildings, ground, roads and other public works of the
National Government the province, or the municipalities, under general
regulations to be prescribed by the Director of Prisons, with the approval of the
Department Head. Persons detained on civil process or confined for contempt of
court and persons detained pending a determination of their appeals may be
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compelled to police their cells and to perform such other labor as may be
deemed necessary for hygienic or sanitary reasons.
Sec. 1729 Provincial Jails –– A jail for the safe keeping of prisoners shall
be maintained at the capital of each province: and in the absence of special
provisions all expenses incidents to the maintenance thereof and of maintaining
prisoners therein be borne by the province.
Sec. 1730 Visitation and inspection of provincial jails ─ The Judge of the
Court of First Instance and the Provincial Board shall, as often as the Judge of
the Court of First Instance is required to hold court in the province, make
personal inspection of the provincial jail as to the sufficiency thereof for the
safekeeping and reformation of prisoners, their proper accommodation and
health, and shall inquire into the manner in which the same has been kept since
the last inspection. A report of such visitation shall be submitted to the Secretary
of Justice, who shall forward the same or a copy thereof to the Director of
Prisons. Once during each month the senior inspector of constabulary in the
province shall visit the provincial jail and make report upon its condition to the
Director of Prisons.
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took place; if any prisoner shall escape, it shall state particularly the time and
manner of escape; if any prisoner shall die, the date and cause of his death shall
be entered on the record.
Such action shall in no wise alter the liability of the province for the
expenses incident to the maintenance of prisoners or the keeping, repair, and
construction of the jail; but the payment and subsistence of the Constabulary
guard shall be at the expense of the Constabulary.
Sec. 1738 Use of jail for detention of fugitive from justice – Any provincial
jail may be used for the safekeeping of any fugitive from justice from any
province, and the jailer shall in such case be entitled to receive the same
compensation for the support and custody of such fugitive from justice as is
provided for other prisoners, to be paid by the officer demanding the custody of
the prisoner, who shall be reimbursed for such outlay as a part of the costs of
the prosecution.
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Persons detained pending trial before justices of peace or before
municipal courts.
Persons detained by order of a justice of the peace or judge of municipal
court pending preliminary investigation of the crime charged, until the
court shall remand them to the Court of First Instance.
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Sec. 1748 Transportation expenses payable by province - All actual and
necessary expenses incurred in the transportation, and guarding the subsistence
during transportation, of national prisoners from provincial jails to a National
Prison, reformatory, or national penal institution, except the expenses of the
Constabulary escort, if any there be, shall be borne by the proper province.
Sec. 1751 Transportation and clothes for released prisoners - Upon the
release of a national prisoner he shall be supplied by the Bureau of Prisons with
transportation to his home, including a gratuity to cover the probable cost of
subsistence enroute, and if necessary, a suit of clothes of the value of not more
than ten pesos, or in case the prisoner is deported, of not more than forty pesos.
Section 1. Title and Scope of the Decree. — This Decree shall be known
as the Probation Law of 1976. It shall apply to all offenders except those entitled
to the benefits under the provisions of Presidential Decree numbered Six
Hundred and three and similar laws.
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(c) "Probation Officer" means one who investigates for the court a
referral for probation or supervises a probationer or both.
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who have been once on probation under the provisions of this Decree;
and
who are already serving sentence at the time the substantive provisions of
this Decree became applicable pursuant to Section 33 hereof.
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Sec. 14. Period of Probation.
The period of probation of a defendant sentenced to a term of
imprisonment of not more than one year shall not exceed two years, and
in all other cases, said period shall not exceed six years.
When the sentence imposes a fine only and the offender is made to serve
subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, the period of probation
shall not be less than nor to be more than twice the total number of days
of subsidiary imprisonment as computed at the rate established, in Article
thirty-nine of the Revised Penal Code, as amended.
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act as the executive officer of the Administration;
exercise supervision and control over all probation officers;
make annual reports to the Secretary of Justice, in such form as the latter
may prescribe, concerning the operation, administration and improvement
of the probation system;
promulgate, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Justice, the
necessary rules relative to the methods and procedures of the probation
process;
recommend to the Secretary of Justice the appointment of the
subordinate personnel of his Administration and other offices established
in this Decree; and
generally, perform such duties and exercise such powers as may be
necessary or incidental to achieve the objectives of this Decree.
Sec. 23. Provincial and City Probation Officers. — There shall be at least
one probation officer in each province and city who shall be appointed by the
Secretary of Justice upon recommendation of the Administrator and in
accordance with civil service law and rules. The Provincial or City Probation
Officer shall receive an annual salary of at least eighteen thousand four hundred
pesos. His duties shall be to:
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maintain a detailed record of his work and submit such written reports as
may be required by the Administration or the court having jurisdiction
over the probationer under his supervision;
prepare a list of qualified residents of the province or city where he is
assigned who are willing to act as probation aides;
supervise the training of probation aides and oversee the latter's
supervision of probationers;
exercise supervision and control over all field assistants, probation aides
and other personnel; and
perform such duties as may be assigned by the court or the
Administration.
Sec. 26. Organization. — Within twelve months from the approval of this
Decree, the Secretary of Justice shall organize the administrative structure of the
Administration and the other agencies created herein. During said period, he
shall also determine the staffing patterns of the regional, provincial and city
probation offices with the end in view of achieving maximum efficiency and
economy in the operations of the probation system.
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1. The state values the dignity of every human person and guarantees
full respect for human rights. (Sec 11, Art. II)
2. There is no man who is all bad and there is something good in all men. (Art. I)
“No felony shall be punishable by any penalty not prescribed by law prior to its
commission”. (Art. 21, RPC)
(Art 125, RPC), A felony committed by a public officer or employee who shall
detain any person for some legal ground and shall fail to deliver such person to the
proper judicial authorities with in the period of:
Delaying Release
This is committed by a public officer or employee who delays for the period of
time specified in Art 125, the performance of any judicial or executive order for the
release of a prisoner or unduly delays the services of the notice of such order to said
prisoner.
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Elements:
This offense like other offenses of similar nature may be committed through
imprudence or negligence.
Elements:
This felony is qualified when the evasion takes place by breaking doors,
windows, gates, roofs or floors; using picklocks, false keys, disguise, deceit, violence,
intimidation or; connivance with other convicts or employees of the penal institution.
(Jail breaking is synonymous with evasion of sentence).
Elements:
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3. Other cases of Evasion of Service of Sentence (Art. 159, RPC)
The effect of this is, the convict may suffer the unexpired portion of his original
sentence
Elements:
The felony of Physical Injuries if committed if the accused does not have the
charge of a detained prisoner and he maltreats him. And if the purpose is to extort a
confession, Grave Coercion will be committed.
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Other models of prison management have been prominent in the last four
decades. One is the Custodial Model, based on the assumption that prisoners have been
incarcerated for the protection of society and for the purpose of incapacitation,
deterrence and retribution. It emphasizes maintenance and security and order through
the subordination of the prisoner to the authority of the warden. Discipline is strictly
applied and most aspect of behavior is regulated.
With the onset of the treatment orientation in corrections during the 1950’s, the
Rehabilitation Model of institutional organization and prison management were
developed. In prisons of this sort, security and house-keeping activities are viewed
primarily as a framework for rehabilitative efforts. Professional treatment specialist
enjoys a higher status than other employees, in accordance with the idea that all aspect
of prison management should be directed towards rehabilitation. During the past
decade, with the rethinking of the goal of rehabilitation, the number of institution
geared toward that end has declined. Treatment programs still do exist in most
institutions, but very few prisons can be said to conform under this model.
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punishments were the vestiges of the Old World (Johnson, 1987). In the New World, by
contrast, it was self-evident that a criminal was not a preordained sinner. His fate was
not sealed by the Almighty. He was instead a product of the society. While a
prisoner/sinner deserved punishment for his crimes, he also deserved to be reclaimed
by and for the society (Johnson, 1987). The penitentiary, the first prison systematically
designed to harness pain in service of the reformation of men, thus embodied a
glorious reform dream, providing a new prison for a New World (Clear and Cole, 1986).
It is further essential to note that the reformers or legislators who supported the
penitentiary did so with one firm criterion and that, the punishment is humane and not
replicate the brutal punishment of the past (Clear and Cole, 1986). The penitentiary
model of reformation applies two systems namely, the separate and the congregate.
The separate system used solitary confinement and manual labor in which the
prisoners were kept separate from one another as well as from the outside world. The
congregate system is one in which the prisoners slept in solitary cells, worked
together but complete silence is observed. They are united but no moral connection
exists among them. They see without knowing each other. They are in a society without
mental intercourse because there was no communication and hence no interaction
(Clear and Cole, 1986).
Despite the theoretical emphasis on reform and the widespread use of the
terminology of rehabilitation, the actual experience of imprisonment for most persons
who are imprisoned in this century has been simply punitive. From the mid-60s to the
present, a new prison type has emerged which is defined by the climate of violence and
predation on the part of the prisoners. Known simply as the “violent prison”, it has been
aptly described as a “human warehouse with a jungle-like underground” (Johnson,
1987).
In the management of prisons, one recognizes that the pain suffered by the
prisoners can create more prison management problems rather than solve them. When
prisoners feel pain, prisons become hard to operate. According to Johnson (1987), in
principle, it is possible to escalate pain and break the will of the prisoners and to resort
into outright brutality and to run the prison on raw fear. He also stated that prisons are
meant to push and deter two goals that require pain and discomfort even to the extent
that conditions in jail are restrictive and even harsh. They are part of the penalty that
the criminal offender must pay for his offenses against society. The constitution does
not even mandate comfortable prisons so indeed prisons cannot be free from
discomfort because by their very nature, always will be painful.
In the modern prisons, from the nineteenth century penitentiary to today’s prison
system, administrators are deceptive on this score, preaching treatment but practicing
punishment (Johnson, 1987). The New York’s famous Elmira Reformatory, for example,
is often described as the original model from which progressive penology evolved. It
was praised as a humanitarian “hospital” or “college on the hill”, but pain as a
fundamental fact of prison life was not acknowledged as an Elmira’s ingredients.
Although the system developed a new, liberating reformatory and produced a kind of
scientific penitentiary, the system attributed largely on the result of fear (Johnson,
1987).
The brutality inside prisons in today’s world reflects a failure of policy, a triumph
of convenience over conscience, and a challenge to responsible prison administrators. If
our nurturing is defective, i.e. unappreciative, inconsistent, lax, harsh and careless, one
grows up hostile and this hostility seems as much turned inward as it was turned
outward. The nurturing environments that produce this denigration of self and others
are the factors that breed criminality.
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If this is what really appears to be, then when will man realize the meaning of
reformation or rehabilitation for prisoners? Does it only end in wishful thinking?
Blumstein list five possible approaches that prison administrators may take to
deal with the prison crisis. Each approach has economic, social and political costs, and
each entails a different amount of time for implementation and impact.
First, the proponent of the Null Strategy say that nothing should be done, that
prisons should be allowed to become increasingly congested and staff should remain to
maintain them with the assumption that the problem is temporary and will disappear in
time. This, of course, may be the most politically acceptable approach in the short run.
In the long run, however, the approach may lead to riots as prisoners take control of
their situation and staff members become demoralized. It may ultimately result in the
courts declaring the facilities unconstitutional and taking over their administration.
Philosophical opponents of incarceration may support this approach because they fear
that other strategies will only result in greater numbers of persons imprisoned.
Contemporary jails serve two vital purposes: they detain accused individuals
awaiting trial and they house sentenced offenders serving short terms. Some argue that
jails are outside the boundaries of the correction enterprise while others believe that
jails are important part of corrections and that they illustrate many complexities. It is
perhaps the most frustrating component of corrections for people who want to help
persons who find themselves under supervision. Many of them need a helping hand,
but the unceasing human flow usually does not allow time for such help nor the
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resources available in most instances. Many programs have been tried and alternatives
to jails were developed, but the common experience is that they come to be applied to
persons who otherwise would be sentenced to probation or those who will serve their
sentences with in the community.
In the United States, a Federal Survey (Senna and Siegel, 1987) found out that
the ratio of probation to prison population is increasing as a faster rate than the prison
population. About 1,032,000 adult offenders were put on probation in 1984, and about
904,000 finished their probationary period. Of these about 81.5 percent were
considered successful completions. The remainder, 18.5 percent, was considered
unsuccessful either because the probationer was incarcerated for a new offense or
because the probationer absconded or was in custody for another reason (Senna and
Siegel, 1987).
Note: That the counting will start upon Note: That the counting will only run if
the discovery of the crime not on the within convicted person will hide in the
date the crime happened. Philippines or in any other countries in
which the Philippines has a treaty or
extradition law.
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Conditions necessary in Prescription of Penalty
Offenses punished only by a fine or by imprisonment for not more than one
month, or both – after 1 year
Offenses punished by imprisonment for more than one month, but less than two
(2) years – after 4 years
Offense punished by imprisonment for six (6) years or more – after 12 years
Offense punished by imprisonment fro two (2) years or more – after 8 years
1. Offense under Internal Revenue law – after 5 years
2. Violations of Municipal Ordinances – after 2 months
3. Violations of the regulations and conditions of certificate of
convenience by the Public Service Commission – after two (2) months
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1. Gives himself up;
2. be captured;
3. goes to a foreign country with which we have no extradition treaty;
4. Commits another crime before the expiration of the period of
prescription.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology adheres to the following ten (10)
doctrines to guide it in its day-today functions.
(1.) Personnel build-up and mentoring doctrine – New recruits are immediately
sent to attend the public safely basic recruit-training course at the National
Jail Institute, with the program of instruction particularly tailored to
corrections or jail officers. The physical and moral approach is mentoring. In
the training center, mentors are trusted counselors who can make a
difference between a person’s physical and moral like.
(2.) Striving for excellence doctrine – After the development of personnel, the
bureau begins to enhance the knowledge and skills of personnel to make
them capable of performing the tasks assigned to them, the human
resources development program includes in-house training, allied courses
offered to ensure that skills are appropriated to their job description. The Jail
Bureau endeavors to create or build for them a cancer that will make them
worthy of being correctional officers.
(4.) Doctrine of Positive reinforcements – This doctrine deals with the strategies
that are intended to strengthen the moral fiber and work ethics of personnel.
The activation of integrity circles (IC’s) in all levels of jail management, the
member IC’s shall ensure that all available personnel who are morally strong
will be made as role models. They can help prevent less desirable and
potentially corrupt personnel from engaging illicit activities. It is imperative
that the IC’s helped enhance morality and integrity of the organization. In
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the institutionalization of IC’s facilitators play a very important role in the
professionalization of trainers. Trainers keep abreast of development
obtained in the organization. Periodic training of facilitators is necessary to
effectively fight corruption in organization.
(7.) Doctrine of Penology – This doctrine is the main of the Bureau of Jail
Management and Penology. Which includes the following:
Periodic and surprise inspection of jail facilities are conducted. The inspection must
not be perfunctory or superficial. It must be done thoroughly in order to discover and
flush out all kinds of contraband places in jail facilities where contraband could be
hidden and locate places which could serve as possible route of escape.
b. Oplan Greyhound
Searches on offenders and visitors entering the jail facilities are religiously
conducted to prevent entry of contraband and other deadly weapons and to ensure the
safety and security of offenders, visitors and personnel. No one is allowed to pass the
gate without being subjected to body search and inspection.
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escorted out of jail unless their movement is endorsed by the court or other judicial
authorities, except in emergency cases. The shortest available route to and from the
destination shall be taken and no deviation from the route shall be allowed for
whatever reason.
d. Offenders’ count
A jailer shall not enter the quarters of the offenders to distribute food unless another
officer is available to handle the keys and to control the entrance door. In dining
room security, as a general precaution, individual mess utensils of offenders are
made of plastic.
f. Mail censorship
To give the offenders are respite from the strain of prison life, they shall be
encouraged to maintain wholesome contact with friends and relatives through
correspondence. However, the privilege o sending and receiving mail that is
extended to offenders shall be properly supervised and handled to obviate the
possibility of smuggling contraband and using this as a means of elicit
communication. Likewise, all outgoing mail shall pass through the normal mail
facility of the jail subject to the usual censorship.
Definition:
1. Mob – it is a crowd which may become boisterous and disorderly with only
isolated and minor violence or lawlessness.
2. Riot – it is a mob which seeks to violate each and every police goals.
Characteristics
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1. Verbal and written abuse – tactics used to anger and demoralize police
officers.
2. Noise – this tends to fatigue and demoralize the police and it also interferes
with police command and control.
3. Attack on police and police equipments – this is done to damage and cripple
police vehicle and disrupt police action against violators.
4. Throw objects – police offices should be on the look out for troubled areas
where objects are available to violators.
Ex. Molotov bombs, pili boxes, feces, urine, stone and etc.
5. Moving vehicle – used to destroy roadblocks and police formations.
6. Destruction of property and looting – private residence and businesses may
have windows broken or set into a fire or business establishments may be
looted of merchandize.
7. Use of weapons and firearms – these are used in fighting police either by
selective snipping or massed fire.
a. Proper selection of Men – the selection of officers for a riot control force is
of vital importance and should be made with extreme care when possible.
This includes temperament, attitude, fear, unit leader and physical fitness.
c. Uniform – the uniform should be complete and in good pair. The officer
who is neat in appearance with a clean uniform is a symbol of law and order
and by his appearance will affect the crowd psychologically making control a
comparatively simple task.
2. Tactics
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b. Prevention of Assemblies – when the tactical principle of dispersal has
been successfully accomplished. The professional agitators and leaders
will attempt to reorganize the mob. It is impotent therefore, to prevent
further gatherings, eliminating additional policing problems. The
following methods can be used.
1. Mobile units patrolling the area
2. Develop a system of guard on fixed post
3. Roving for patrol
4. Develop system of communication
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All Assistant Regional Directors of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology is
mandated to intensity implementation of oplan dakip-balik-piitan in their respective
areas of responsibility for the immediate recapture or recovery of escapes..
Coordination with the Philippine National Police and other Law Enforcement Agencies is
also encouraged before the conduct of an operation.
The following are the measures that help reduce the occurrence of escape
attempts:
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a) Method of Escape- Inform the Central Office how the inmates managed to have
access in the area from where the escape occurred;
b) An evaluation of the factors which may have led to or what enable the escape;
a) Recovery team must be tactful and use good judgment during their contact with
the public;
b) Apprehension plan should clearly state the limits of authority of the recovery
team;
c) Conduct vehicle or house search;
d) Proper coordination with the law enforcement agencies is necessary;
e) Recovery team must recognize the importance of proper handling of evidence;
f) Any infractions of the law should be avoided.
Oplan decongestion
Under this program, the following applicable laws and policies must be religiously
implemented.
R.A. 6036 a law on release on recognition, which provides for the release of
offenders whose penalties are not more than six (6) months imprisonment or
involves a fine of two thousand pesos (P2,000.00) or both, to the custody of
a responsible person in the community.
R.A. 6127 a law which grant full-time credit period of preventive detention,
which fully deducts the period of the offenders preventive from the sentence
from the sentence from the sentence imposed by the court.
P.D. 968 as amended, which grants offenders who are sentenced to six (6)
years imprisonment or below, to be eligible for probation.
P.D. 603 the Youth and Child Welfare Code, which suspends service of sentence
of minor offenders and places them in rehabilitation centers under the
supervision of the DSWD, before they are released to the custody of their
parent or any responsible citizen in the community.
Batas Pambansa Blg. 85, which authorizes the release of a detained offender
who has undergone preventive imprisonment equivalent to the maximum
imposable penalty for the offense changed.
R.A. 9165 Dangerous Drug Act of 1972, especially Section 32, which grants
probation to first-time offenders of minor age.
R.A. 4203, which creates the Board of Pardons and Parole to look into the
physical, mental and moral record of convicted offenders in order to
determine who shall be eligible for parole, probation or pardon.
Department of Justice memorandum Circular No. 6, which directs all
wardens or anyone who is in-charge of local jails to effect the immediate
transfer of national Prisoners to the national Penitentiary in Muntinglupa or
other National Prison.
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8. Doctrine on image and technology build-up – in view of the urgent need of
recording the important events and activities of a fledging organization since
its creation in 1991 pursuant to R.A. 697 the Bureau of Jail Management and
Penology has regularly published a quarterly magazine. The correction
journal. Starting with simple issues, the journal has now evolved into a
professionally competitive publication.
As one of the fundamental functions of its public information office, the jail
Bureau builds up a positive image through press release. In the pursuit of this
endeavors, it stops at nothing short or requiring its unit and offices to provide
the public information office with data worthy of publication. The Bureau of
jail Management and Penology has made it a point to scout from among its
new recruits those who are inclined to being in the PIO to make it more
effective.
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