The Female dormitory of the Davao City jail in Barangay Ma-a trails only Panabo City in terms of inmate congestion rate in the region.
Speaking in yesterday’s AFP-PNP press briefing held at Royal Mandaya hotel, Jail Insp. Edo Lobenia, the spokesperson of BJMP XI, said Panabo city jail has only a total population of 454 but the limited number of cells spiked the congestion rate to as much as 764%.
This is followed by Davao City female dormitory with a congestion rate of 691%. In terms of population, the female dorm only has 567 inmates, according to the records of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).
Ranked third is the Digos City jail with 773 inmates and 670% congestion rate. Next is the Davao City jail annex with 747 inmates and a 658 congestion rate. Fifth is the Davao city jail with 3,300 inmates as of July 2018 with 658% congestion rate.
Sixth is the Digos City female dorm with a population of 80 and 478%. Next is the Montevista district jail with 447 inmates; eighth is the Island Garden City of Samal jail with 78 inmates and 267% congestion.
Tagum City jail, meanwhile, has 315 inmates and 214% congestion rate, and the last is the Tagum City jail female dorm with 47 inmates.
“So these are the top 10 congested jails in the Davao region as of July 2018 with 4.7 square meter per inmates,” Lobenia said.
Meanwhile, he said they have still high profile inmates in the jails, especially in Digos City, where members of the New People’s Army (NPA) are detained.
He said the high-risk inmates are isolated in one cell separated from those with drug-related cases.
“We are still going to assess the threat to the said inmates just like the Maute group from Davao City jail who have been transferred earlier this year to the National Bilibid prison ,” he added.
He said the slow disposition of cases in court and the intensified anti-crime operations of the law enforcement agencies contributed to the congestion of the prisons.
“Whether we like it or not, we have to accept because while we have to wait for the commitment order coming from the court, we are mandated to detained the accused,” Lobenia further said.
However, the BJMP has already started building new cells to accommodate the high number of inmates.
“We have already started the construction of our jail facilities. One thing is we have just problem in the construction of Davao City jail in Calinan because the lot has been pawned off before it was donated,” he said.
The Davao City female jail and Digos City jail also have undergoing construction, which are 40% done. Hopefully, he said this would address the congestion in the city hail.
