BJMP chief: Crisis was a wakeup call

The foiled jailbreak at the Metro Manila Rehabilitation Center (MMRC) should serve as a wakeup call to authorities to address problems at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), its director Chief Superintendent Arturo Alit said yesterday.

"We have long called attention to the bureau’s problems but these were not addressed," said Alit, who pointed out that only 106 BJMP personnel are assigned to guard 1,428 inmates at the MMRC.

After the 30-hour standoff ended at the Camp Bagong Diwa jail in Bicutan, Taguig City, 23 people were dead as assault teams flushed out members of the Abu Sayyaf who had tried to escape on Monday.

Alit admitted there were security lapses that allowed inmates to grab the guns of the jail guards. But because of the small number of guards, he said, the Abu Sayyaf members were able to overpower them.

At the same time, Alit noted the MMRC guards are armed with only six long firearms and a limited number of short firearms.

"There may have been some lapses but it should be considered that despite the thin deployment of BJMP personnel, no inmate managed to escape," Alit said in an interview with The STAR.

As early as last year, Alit added that they had received reports of the inmates’ plan to escape, prompting them to assign 28 additional jail guards and implement structural improvements.

"We had done a lot to prevent the reported plan of jailbreak. We even asked the Special Action Force for augmentation of security in the jail premises. Sadly, the inmates resorted to this," he said.

Inmates, most of them members of the notorious bandit group Abu Sayyaf, overpowered their jail guards during the 6:30 a.m. headcount on Monday inside the MMRC-Special Intensive Care Area.

He noted that most of the inmates detained in the MMRC are considered "maximum risk" due to their involvement in serious crimes, including a series of bombings in Metro Manila and in Mindanao.

The inmates are housed in two four-story buildings in the compound while the two other buildings are occupied by the National Capital Regional Police Office.

Alit said the problem at MMRC is indicative of jail conditions nationwide. In Metro Manila alone, congestion in jails remains high and is aggravated all the more by the sorry state of the buildings and facilities.

In a report to the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the BJMP said National Capital Region (NCR) jails have a total of 21,987 inmates as of September 2004, or a 273-percent increase over the 5,890 inmates in 1995.

"NCR jails have 21,987 inmates who are being guarded by only 429 guards as the 1,287 personnel had to go on three eight-hour shifts," Alit pointed out.

Prison conditions deprive inmates of a humane existence even while they are detained, he said. "We want our inmates, just like other well-meaning members of society, to maintain their humanity while in confinement," he added.

"Do we treat them as human beings and release them as productive citizens or do we let them live in jails like beasts and release them as monsters to wreak havoc on society?" Alit asked.