Jail Management in Bohol

The management of the Provincial Jail is finally transferred to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).  Gov. Erico B. Aumentado and BJMP Director Rosendo Dial signed the Memorandum of Agreement last Friday that sealed the transfer effective immediately although still on a transition period. 

 Under the law, provincial jails are managed and operated by the provincial governments while district and municipal jails are under the BJMP. 

 So is the new arrangement an amendment of the law?  It is not.  We are informed this is just a temporary arrangement that is not entirely new.  Accordingly there are other provinces who have already transferred the management of their jails to the BJMP.  It will appear though that the provincial government's surrender of the management of the provincial jail is indicative of the inability of provincial governments to management the jails. 

 This is not an empty view because experience in the Bohol Detention and Rehabilitation Center (BDRC) would show a history of changing hands in the management of the jail from one provincial warden to another, to an officer in charge, to acting warden and what have you. 

 A number of full-fledge provincial wardens have been thrown in the freezer because the jail was not managed properly.  Mass actions after mass actions by detainees and prisoners and prisoners escaping taking place were not a rarity in the jail.   

 There was a time when the prisoners were virtually running the jail more than the management. They dictate what happens or what not happens inside the jail.  Family members stay in the jail as if it was their home as well.  Children were seen running and playing wantonly inside the premises as if it was their backyard and world. 

 The jail was supposed to be an institution of law and order and where the occupants are taught discipline and law and order to prepare them for their eventual return to mainstream society but sadly there was none.  On the contrary it was their families who were being immersed and drawn into the world of offenders. 

 Drastic reforms were necessary but what reforms and how were they to be carried out? 

 Gov. Aumentado threw the warden into the freezer and assigned a retired military man in the person of Lt. Col. Raul Mendez, who is known for his probity and competence while still in the service.  It was a tall order and a difficult task to reconvert the jail into an institution that it would be – an institution of correction and rehabilitation for society's offenders. 

 At the first sign of reform, the prisoners and inmates howled.  They even had means to let the media in on their complaints.  The Colonel stood his grounds not only because he had the mandate but because he was right.  The prisoners felt he was intruding into their comfort zones that they have long enjoyed. 

 That was when the June 3, 2008 raid of the provincial jail by a composite group of police and the military took place that cleansed the jail and restored order in it. 

 The BJMP that assumed the management of the provincial jail last Friday will be starting with a better environment than when Col. Mendez took over its management. 

 Under the new management, the jail will be considered district jail of the BJMP but it will also remain as the provincial jail until such time that the law is amended. There are now proposals to amend it.  Meantime the provincial guards will remain employees of the provincial government until some of those qualified can be absorbed by the BJMP. 

 Will the professional jail managers do better?  It remains to be seen.  While it is virtually a surrender of responsibility on the part of the provincial government, a lot of problems and burden is also taken off its shoulders.