Congestion rate as regards the number of persons deprived of liberty in jails nationwide, or the so-called PDLs, has gone down, according to the the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, BJMP spokesperson Jail Chief Inspector Jayrex Bustinera said around 126,000 PDLs are currently cramped inside its 478 jail facilities nationwide.
He pointed out the 367 percent congestion rate was already a big decline from the 600 percent recorded in 2018 at the height of the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.
“Before, there were six PDLs in a space supposedly for one. Now, our congestion rate is only at 367 percent, so there are three to four PDLs in the space of one. We have already decreased the number,” he said.
To address this issue, Bustinera said the BJMP was repairing and building larger jail facilities, stressing the importance of support from the local government units in order for the BJMP to establish new ones.