High-profile convicts in separate jails soon
IT’S all systems go for the construction of state-of-the-art facilities for high-profile inmates in the country.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced the completion of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 11928, or the law establishing separate facilities for heinous crime convicts.
The IRR is ready to be signed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.
RA 11928 lapsed into law on July 30.
Once signed, the IRR shall take effect 15 calendar days after publication.
The DoJ said part of the law’s provision is the construction of at least three separate facilities for high-level offenders, with one facility each in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
Each facility shall be built in a suitable location away from the general population and other persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and preferably within a military establishment or on an island separate from the mainland.
The facility shall also be located in a secured and isolated place to ensure that there is no unwarranted contact or communication from outside of the penal institution.
Likewise, each facility shall have separate buildings for male and female PDLs. A separate dormitory shall also be provided for PDLs who are members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) community.
The DoJ said the transfer of PDLs classified as high-level offenders shall be made within a period of 30 days from the completion of the construction of the heinous crimes facility.
It pointed out that the separate facility for PDLs classified as high-level offenders shall be a state-of-the-art facility with surveillance cameras and the latest information technology and security systems capable of monitoring PDLs 24 hours a day, and with enhanced and extensive security features on locks, doors and its perimeters.
Provisions for solar, biogas, rainwater harvesting and the like shall be included in the design and construction of the facility to facilitate self-sustainability, in compliance with RA 10575 and other existing laws, orders, rules and regulations, the Justice department pointed out.
The DoJ added that the director general of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) shall ensure that, under necessary supervision, PDLs classified as high-level offenders in the facility shall be allowed to communicate with their relatives and legal counsels, both by receiving visits and by means of alternative modes of communication such as through phone, video or correspondence, in accordance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and other relevant international standards.
There shall also be regular random drug testing among the PDLs convicted of heinous crimes in the facility.
The DoJ added that the facility shall be equipped with effective and efficient information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and a software system that follows generally accepted standard for the digitization of all information necessary to be used in the build-up, maintenance and transmittal of necessary PDL records to all the prison and penal farms of the BuCor and other authorized government agencies.
It stressed that the ICT infrastructure and software system shall feature a well-established maintenance plan and integration model for information sharing with other law enforcement agencies and for effective monitoring of PDL confined in the facility.