Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla is seeking to decongest prison facilities of the Bureau of Corrections until 2023, according to the agency’s mouthpiece.
DoJ spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano IV stressed that the Justice secretary wants to prioritize the decongestion of prison facilities following the secretary’s visit to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City where he discovered that the facility has a congestion rate of 330 percent.
“It currently has a prisoner population of around 26,000 even though the New Bilibid Prison has a capacity for only 6,000 prisoners,” Clavano said.
Inmates at the NBP maximum security compound are being eyed by Remulla to be transferred to Sabalayan in Occidental Mindoro where the BuCor already has an existing prison.
On the other hand, the Drug Rehabilitation Center in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija is being mulled as a site to transfer inmates of the Bilibid’s Medium and Minimum Security Compounds.
Clavano said that at the same time, Remulla also plans to convert the NBP land into a government center.
“Secretary Remulla is really a visionary and he saw the land of the Bilibid has risen in value,” Clavano said.