Manila (Philippines), 12 April 2023 - There are more than 180,000 people in prison in the Philippines. Like many detention institutions in the world, Philippine jails and prisons are also beset with overcapacity issues, high death rate for people in prisons, and violence, among others. To address these challenges, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), which oversees 477 jails holding detainees on remand in the country, stepped up its effort to implement decongestion strategies and education reform for Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs).
In a recent event co-hosted by the BJMP and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launching an initiative to alleviate the heavily congested jails, a partnership agreement was signed to undertake the “Magbasa Tungo sa Paglaya” or “Read Your Way Out” Project.
The Read Your Way Out Project brings together government, learning and academic institutions, and international and national partners to provide PDLs access to education and reading resources for their personal development and improve confidence in the future. The project will support the creation of 13 new jail libraries and the provision of reading and other materials that will expand the access of prisoners to materials for education, self-improvement, and recreation. The National Library of the Philippines contributes with training and capacity-building for frontline officers (wardens, paralegals, welfare and development officers, and local public librarians ) who will manage the jail libraries and its learning programmes.
During the launch, BJMP also introduced its new policy to regulate a reading programme in jails, a mechanism for PDLs to earn time allowances and to strengthen partnerships with local public libraries. This will make the Philippines the first country in Asia to set a reading policy connected to time allowances as an approach to address reintegration and decongestion.
According to BJMP Chief Jail Director Allan Iral, “We recognize the value of providing our PDLs with access to learning resources and opportunities for personal growth. Aside from the creation of jail libraries, we are also advocating to revisit the policy governing time allowances of PDLs, as we would like to incorporate reading activities as one of the options for our prisoners to earn good conduct time allowance for reducing their sentences.”
The ceremonial launch was followed by a knowledge exchange session attended by more than 50 jail officers from 13 Philippine regions, public librarians, international experts on education in prison, and delegations from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia. Two experts from the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) facilitated the workshop.
“This joint initiative with the BJMP demonstrated how crucial partnership and working together as one community is in bringing education to detention cells. Collaboration and ownership of project partners are key to sustaining our efforts and commitment to uphold PDLs’ human rights and prepare them to reintegrate into society and contribute positively to their communities,” says Mr. Olivier Lermet, UNODC Senior Policy Advisor.
