The Philippine Penal Colonies the Iwahig Penal Colony the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm Is One of the Most Popular Prisons in the Philippines

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The Philippine Penal Colonies The Iwahig Penal Colony The Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm is one of the most popular prisons in the Philippines. Iwahig Penal Colony was established in the early 1900's and to this date it's still operational. It is where criminals from other parts of the country were sent, jailed and forced to do hard labor while serving their sentence. Later on, the reformed ones are allowed to roam within the compound and mingle with the community while the "hard cores" remain in maximum confinement. Within the compound, there are farmstead tended by former prisoners who, after serving their sentence, have decided to stay in PP and start a new life. The Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm was originally set up in 1902 by the United tates to house Philippine prisoners who had fought againt the American colonization of the Philippines. Today, situated on the lush island of Palawan, only 30 minutes by road from Puerto Princesa City, Iwahig is unique among penal institutions. Despite the fact that most of the 2,300 inmates have been convicted o homicide, the majority are minimum security prisoners and are thus not locked up within the colony. Instead, these minimum security inmates live in dormitories and work on one of the many agricultural projects located within the prison farm. Prisoners who are deemed to be at risk of escaping are confined to medium or maximum security areas, where they are monitored, but these prisoners comprise less than fifty percent of the Iwahig population.

Founded by the American colonial administration in 1904, The Iwahig prison on the island of Palawan in the Philippines is an open air penal colony covering 38,000 hectares of jungle and coastland. After a probationary period, long-term prisoners are allowed to become farmers, fishermen or wardens, as the prison is self-supporting and self-managed. The “lifers’” families organise their own community existence. Alejandro will soon be released. As “mayor” of the 2,300 prisoners, he acts as an experienced mentor for various inmates, such as Toting the fisherman or Rodrigo, a domestic that rebels against his boss, a violent warden. In the prison court, Alejandro acts as the prisoners’ lawyer, since he knows about everything that is going on. When he is finally released, he starts life all over again with his reconquered rights and a feeling of dignity. Photos of Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm

As part of their rehabilitation, prison inmates receive instruction in this elementary school.

Aside from classrrom and vocational instruction, prisoners are also given lessons in household arts and handicrafts in the Gusali ng Karunungang Pantahanan.

The gateway to the Inagawan sub- colony of Iwahig, where prison hamlets are found.

Entrance to Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm Old Colonial Building, now the Prison Recreational Yard

Iwahig Prison Souvenir Shop(inside) Entrance to the Recreational Hall In Iwahig Prison

The Souvenir Shop at Iwahig Prison (outside)

Bilibid Prison

Old Bilibid Prison

The Old Bilibid Prison, then known as Carcel y Presidio Correccional (Spanish, "Correctional Jail and Military Prison") occupied a rectangular piece of land which was part of the Mayhalique Estate in the heart of Manila. The old prison was established on June 25, 1865 under a Spanish royal decree. It is divided into two sections the Carcel Section which could accommodate 600 inmates and the Presidio, which could accommodate 527prisoners. Due to increasing crime, the Philippine Government enacted Commonwealth Act No. 67[1] and a new prison was built in Muntinlupa on 551 hectares of land at an area considered at that time to be "remote". Construction began in 1936 with a budget of one million pesos.[1] In 1940, the prisoners, equipment and facilities were transferred to the new prison. The remnants of the old facility was used by the City of Manila as its detention center then known as Manila City Jail. In 1941 the new facility was officially named "The New Bilibid Prison"

New Bilibid Prison

The New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, Philippines, is the main insular penitentiary designed to house the prison population of the Philippines. It is maintained by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) under the Philippine Department of Justice. As of October 2004, it has an inmate population of 16,747. The penitentiary had an initial land area of 551 hectares. One hundred four hectares of the facility were transferred to a housing project of the Department of Justice. San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm

San Ramon Penal Colony is considered by correctional experts as the second oldest penitentiary in the country but the closure of the Old Bilibid Prison in 1940 made San Ramon as the oldest existing penitentiary today. Other historical accounts suggest, San Ramon Prison was established on August 31, 1870 through a royal decree promulgated in 1869. It was established during the tenure of Governor General Ramon Blanco (whose patron saint the prison was named after), the facility was originally established for persons convicted of political crimes. San Ramon was destined to be a center of experiments in manner of government as well as variety of products. Strengthening the historical claim on San Ramon Penal Colony is the presence of the marker says; Al Ilustre Fundador De Esta Colonia Exmo Senor Teniente General Don Ramon Blanco Y Erenas Marque de Pena Plata 31 Agosto 1870.

According to his research, San Ramon was closed down during the Spanish-American war when it sustained damaged. In 1899, Spanish rule in the Philippines ceased following their defeat to the Americans. Some 1000 political prisoners in the colony were given back their freedom by the American authorities. All the buildings, warehouses etc., were burned to the ground, except the sugar mill and saw mill buildings. After the war San Ramon was later re-established by the Americans. When the American took over in the 1900s, the Bureau of Prisons was created under the Department of Commerce and Police. On 19 November 1906, American governor James Smith issued executive order No. 47 defining the total land area of San Ramon Farm to contain 1,414.68 hectares.

Gateway to the penal colony established on August 31, 1870, some 22 km. from the city proper. The site was originally agricultural land employing prison labor.

The Executive Building, erected in 1927, when Valentin Macasaet was the prison superintendent. At the rear are the prison cells where new inmates and hardened criminals are detained.

Davao Prison and Penal Farm

The Davao Prison and Penal Farm is the first and one of the oldest and most recognized penal colonies in the Philippines. Located in Santo Tomas, Davao del Norte, the penal colony is sprawled at the vast Tadeco Banana Plantation. Formerly known as the Davao Penal Colony,the Davao Prison and Penal Farm was built on January 21, 1932. It was established within a 5, 212-hectare of land and was supervised by Bureau of Corrections and the Department of Justice. The Bureau of Corrections, alongside with the Department of Justice is geared towards the training and reformation of the prisoners. These two departments also aims to teach the prisoners how to read, write, do jobs like carpentry, wood carving, barbering, basic appliance repairing, plumbing, shoe making. By uplifting their literacy and awareness, the prisoners will learn how to be responsible citizens especially when out of the prison. To date, there are approximately 2,863 prisoners detained at the Davao Prison and Penal. With them are around 187 jail guards and the colony's personnels.

Wood carvings by DAPECOL prisoners: a sala table, picture frames, paper weights, and canes. The hardwood used for the carvings comes from the forest located within the colony.

Inmates stripping abaca from hemp stalks. Those in the colony observe regular working hours and roam freely, with minimum supervision.

Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm

“Sprawled on a 16, 190-hectare land area, the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm is one of the prisons nearer to Metro Manila.

According to records and file, the Sablayan prison firsthoused colonist, employees and prisoners on January 15, 1955. Since its establishment, the prison is continuously improved through construction of several buildings, including dormitories, employee‟s quarter, guardhouse, schoolhouse, chapel, recreational hall and post exchange.

The Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm is also where prisoners from New Bilibid Prison are brought for decongestion purposes. It follows the same colony standards as other penal farms.”

Historical Overview of Philippine Corrections

The Pre-colonial and Spanish Regimes:

During the pre-colonial times, the informal prison system was community-based, as there were no national penitentiaries to speak of. Natives who defied or violated the local laws were meted appropriate penalties by the local chieftains. Incarceration in the community was only meant to prevent the culprit from further harming the local residents.

The formal prison system in the Philippines started only during the Spanish regime, where an organized corrective service was made operational. Established in 1847 pursuant to Section 1708 of the Revised Administrative Code and formally opened by Royal Decree in 1865, the Old Bilibid Prison was constructed as the main penitentiary on Oroquieta Street, Manila and designed to house the prison population of the country. This prison became known as the “Carcel y Presidio Correccional” and could accommodate 1,127 prisoners.

The Carcel was designed to house 600 prisoners who were segregated according to class, sex and crime while the Presidio could accommodate 527 prisoners. Plans for the construction of the prison were first published on September 12, 1859 but it was not until April 10, 1866 that the entire facility was completed.

The prison occupied a quadrangular piece of land 180 meters long on each side, which was formerly a part of the Mayhalique Estate in the heart of Manila. It housed a building for the offices and quarters of the prison warden, and 15 buildings or departments for prisoners that were arranged in a radial way to form spokes. The central tower formed the hub. Under this tower was the chapel. There were four cell-houses for the isolated prisoners and four isolated buildings located on the four corners of the walls, which served as kitchen, hospital and stores. The prison was divided in the middle by a thick wall. One-half of the enclosed space was assigned to Presidio prisoners and the other half to Carcel prisoners.

In 1908, concrete modern 200-bed capacity hospitals as well as new dormitories for the prisoners were added. A carpentry shop was organized within the confines of the facility. For sometime the shop became a trademark for fine workmanship of furniture made by prisoners. At this time, sales of handicrafts were done through the institutions and inmates were compensated depending on the availability of funds. As a consequence, inmates often had to sell through the retail or barter their products.

On August 21, 1869, the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City was established to confine Muslim rebels and recalcitrant political prisoners opposed to the Spanish rule. The facility, which faced the Jolo sea had Spanish-inspired dormitories and was originally set on a 1,414-hectare sprawling estate.

The American and Commonwealth Governments:

When the Americans took over in the 1900s, the Bureau of Prisons was created under the Reorganization Act of 1905 (Act No. 1407 dated November 1, 1905) as an agency under the Department of Commerce and Police. It also paved the way for the re-establishment of San Ramon Prison in 1907 which was destroyed during the Spanish-American War. On January 1, 1915, the San Ramon Prison was placed under the auspices of the Bureau of Prisons and started receiving prisoners from Mindanao.

Before the reconstruction of San Ramon Prison, the Americans established in 1904 the Iuhit penal settlement (now Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm) on a vast reservation of 28,072 hectares. It would reach a total land area of 40,000 hectares in the late 1950s. Located on the westernmost part of the archipelago far from the main town to confine incorrigibles with little hope of rehabilitation, the area was expanded to 41,007 hectares by virtue of Executive Order No. 67 issued by Governor Newton Gilbert on October 15, 1912.

Other penal colonies were established during the American regime. On November 27, 1929, the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) was created under Act No. 3579 to provide separate facilities for women offenders while the Davao Penal Colony in Southern Mindanao was opened in 1932 under Act No. 3732.

Transfer of the Old Bilibid to Muntinlupa:

The increasing number of committals to the Old Bilibid Prison, the growing urbanization of Manila and the constant lobbying by conservative groups prompted the government to plan and develop a new site for the national penitentiary, which was to be on the outskirts of the urban center. Accordingly, Commonwealth Act No. 67 was enacted, appropriating one million (P1,000.000.00) pesos for the construction of a new national prison in the southern suburb of Muntinlupa, Rizal in 1935. The old prison was transformed into a receiving center and a storage facility for farm produce from the colonies. It was later abandoned and is now under the jurisdiction of the Public Estates Authority.

On November 15, 1940, all inmates of the Old Bilibid Prison in Manila were transferred to the new site. The new institution had a capacity of 3,000 prisoners and it was officially named the New Bilibid Prison on January 22, 1941. The prison reservation has an area of 587 hectares, part of which was arable. The prison compound proper had an area of 300 x 300 meters or a total of nine hectares. It was surrounded by three layers of barbed wire.

Developments After WWII:

After World War II, there was a surplus of steel matting in the inventory and it was used to improve the security fences of the prison. A death chamber was constructed in 1941 at the rear area of the camp when the mode of execution was through electrocution. In the late „60s, fences were further reinforced with concrete slabs. The original institution became the maximum security compound in the 70s and continues to be so up to present, housing not only death convicts and inmates sentenced to life terms, but also those with numerous pending cases, multiple convictions and sentences of more than 20 years.. In the 1980s, the height of the concrete wall was increased and another facility was constructed, 2.5 kilometers from the main building. This became known as Camp Sampaguita or the Medium Security Camp, which was used as a military stockade during the martial law years and the Minimum Security Camp, whose first site was christened “Bukang Liwayway”. Later on, this was transferred to another site within the reservation where the former depot was situated.

Under Proclamation No. 72 issued on September 26, 1954, the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro was established. In The Leyte Regional Prison followed suit under Proclamation No. 1101 issued on January 16, 1973.

Birth of the Reception and Diagnostic Center:

Recognizing the need to properly orient newly committed prisoners to the Bureau of Corrections, the Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC) was created through Administrative Order No. 8, series of 1953 of the Department of Justice. It was patterned after the reception facilities of the California State Prison. The RDC is an independent institution tasked to receive, study, and classify all national prisoners committed by final judgment to the National Penitentiary.

The first RDC facility was created in Building No. 9 of the Maximum Security Compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Muntinlupa City. To isolate the facility from the maximum security wing which was rocked by violence in 1973, the RDC was relocated to Building No. 7, formerly referred to as Metro Jail of the Medium Security Compound of Camp Sampaguita, NBP. To further insulate the newly received inmates from gangs, the Center was transferred to what was once the military command post adjacent to the Medium Security facility where the RDC remains to this day. The RDC is a separate division with a technical function. The Chief of the RDC sees to its independence in carrying out its tasks of receiving and classifying all male national inmates committed to the Bureau of Corrections by the competent courts. The RDC chief reports directly to the Director all the activities undertaken by RDC personnel.

The success of prison rehabilitation programs depends on how the RDC handles the orientation, diagnosis and treatment of newly arrived inmates. Every effort is made to determine an inmate‟s strength as well as moral weaknesses, physical inadequacies, character disorders, and his educational, social and vocational needs. It is during the first sixty (60) days, during the initial contact between a prisoner and his new environment that primordial functions pertaining to his care and rehabilitation treatment are exhaustively carried out by the staff. At the end of the period, the inmate is ready for transfer to any of the penal institutions. He is expected to have overcome his fears and prejudices and is prepared to cooperate in the implementation of his rehabilitation program.

Being the initial stop of every national male prisoner, the RDC is constantly improving its rehabilitative programs. One such reform is the adoption of the behavioral modification modality. Originally a program for drug dependents, the RDC chief recognized the potential of applying its principles to all committed inmates. Thus the RDC was turned into a Therapeutic Community Camp on February 6, 2003.

On June 4, 2004, the RDC also started erasing gang marks of all newly committed prisoners in an effort to eradicate the gang system within the Bureau. Later, then Director Dionisio Santiago entrusted the administration of the Muntinlupa Juvenile Training Center (MJTC) to the RDC through a memorandum dated June 18, 2005. Under a memorandum of Director Vicente G. Vinarao dated March 31, 2005, the RDC was given administrative control over all other RDCs of the Bureau of Corrections. The RDC has evolved into an institution that uses a modern positive approach towards penology.

Non-Operational National Prisons:

Before World War II, two national prisons were established by the government which are no long operational. One was on Corregidor Island and the other in the Mountain Province.

In 1908 during the American regime, some 100 prisoners were transferred from the Old Bilibid Prison to the Corregidor Island Prison Stockage to work under military authorities. This move was in accordance with an order from the Department of Instructions, which approved the transfer of inmates so they could assist in maintenance and other operations in the stockade.

The inmates were transported not to serve time but for prison labor. Until the outbreak of the Second World War, inmates from Bilibid Prison were regularly sent to Corregidor for labor purposes. When the War broke out, prisoners on Corregidor were returned to Bilibid Prison. The island prison was never re-opened.

The Philippine Legislature during the American regime also passed Act No. 1876 providing for the establishment of a prison in Bontoc, Mountain Province. The prison was built for the prisoners of the province and insular prisoners who were members of the non-Christian tribes of Mountain Province and Nueva Viscaya.

The Bontoc prison could be reach only through narrow, poorly developed mountain roads. Due to the enormous expenses incurred in transporting personnel, equipment and supplies to the prison, the facility was abandoned and officially closed on April 26, 1932. Historical Overview of Philippine Corrections