Capacitating the New Quezon City Jail on PDL Assessment and Classification

Last June 26-28, our Chief Consultant, Dr. Raymund Narag providing his expertise in conducting a 3-day workshop on "Orientation on the Assessment and Classification Unit" for the personnel of the Mew Quezon City Jail Payatas.

The New Quezon City Jail Payatas is designed to be a modern jail the Philippines will be very proud of. It is designed as a showcase, where Filipinos can demonstrate their ability to safeguard and reform persons deprived of liberty. It is envisioned that the new jail will be able to observe the Mandela Rules, a set of rules that mandates the respect for the human rights of persons behind bars.

Specifically, the new jail will be able to properly classify and assess the criminogenic risks of offenders, offer the appropriate treatment that addresses the causes of offending, house them properly based on their needs, maximize their skills and talents for use in the governance of the facility, and document their behaviors properly for the grant of Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) for meritorious early release.

The new jail facility is expansive, with huge cells, with many offices and training rooms. It is the first time the Philippines can say that a jail is truly not congested.

Still, the new facility is not without its problems. The perimeter fence is still to be completed. Some cells have water, lighting and ventilation problems. Currently, PDLs have to be locked in to their cells 24 hours a day due to limited movement allowed.

But the warden is very apt to the task. He has taken the huge responsibility of setting the organizational protocols to guide the use of the facility. He is very serious in taking the well being of the PDL and the personnel as his top concern. He needs all the support he can get to realize the vision of making the new jail a world class facility.

With the training, we at PRESO, Inc. are hopeful that the officers are capacitated to run a modern facility. More importantly, we hope, they will truly commit to be professional and corrupt-free to realize these lofty dreams.