Sablayan prisoners undergo skills training

MANILA, Philippines — Inmates at the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro have been provided skills training to help generate income for the SPPF.

The Bureau of Corrections said the inmates were taught to produce concrete hollow blocks, so they could help repair and construct prison facilities as well as save money for the BuCor.

The SPPF recently acquired 90,000 hollow blocks for the repair of its facility, according to Sablayan Prison Superintendent Robert Veneracion.

Equipping inmates with different skills will help the SPPF save money as it does not need to source its needed materials from other suppliers.

Veneracion said that inmates would be able to supply hollow blocks to communities surrounding the prison facility.

Aside from hollow block-making, the prisoners will be trained in auto repair, carpentry, livestock production, plumbing, welding and horticulture.

Earlier, BuCor Director Gregorio Catapang Jr. ordered all prison superintendents to partner with the private sector and make the bureau “relevant, sustainable and respected.”