Recto: One jailbreak in RP every 72 hours

Every 72 hours, a detainee escapes from a Philippine prison. And that’s not even counting the 10 Abu Sayyaf inmates who tried to bolt the Metro Manila Rehabilitation Center in Bicutan, Taguig on Monday, a senator claimed yesterday.

Sen. Ralph Recto called for the creation of an independent body to investigate the dilapidated and "porous" state of jails and other penal facilities in the country.

"With one jailbreak happening every 72 hours, it is time to find out why our jails are porous," he said in a statement.

Recto said 123 inmates escaped from jails run by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in 2001, and that only 67 have been recaptured.

"The number does not include those who escaped that year from prisons run by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor)," he said.

"Under the Philippine penology system, detainees awaiting sentencing are kept in jails run by the BJMP, PNP and provincial governments, while sentenced individuals are sent to BuCor facilities."

Recto said the government must undertake a "wider, deeper" investigation of the attempted jailbreak and hostage-taking incident at Camp Ricardo Papa Sr. (formerly Bagong Diwa) in Bicutan.

"What happened in Bicutan was the logical outcome of weaknesses in the Philippine jail system," he said.

"It is not enough that we focus on one bloody incident alone, but we must scan the whole system for faults so there will be no repeat of that tragedy. This examination is long overdue."

Recto said 6,899 jail guards keep watch over 57,238 inmates in various jails nationwide based on BJMP records submitted to the Senate six months ago.

"(Of this number), 3,759 guards are assigned to custodial duties, while 1,461 are assigned to escort detainees to court hearings," he said.

"The guard-to-detainee ratio on a per shift basis is 1:46. One guard, on the other hand, is assigned to escort four detainees to court hearings. On any given day, an average 5,723 detainees are in court."

The BJMP runs 136 district jails, 82 city jails and 256 town jails, as well as a nationwide youth home, for a total of 475 jails, while the PNP operates 747 detention facilities, Recto added.