The Concept of Institutional Based Correction

Institutional based correction starts with the fourth pillar of

the Philippine criminal justice system, the Correction. The

correction pillar is concerned with the custody, supervision and

rehabilitation of criminal offenders. It is that field of criminal justice

administration which utilize the body of knowledge, practices of the

government, the society in general involving the processes of

handling individuals who have been convicted of the offenses for

purposes of crime prevention and control. This pillar controls jails

or prison management, administration as well as the rehabilitation

and reformation of convicted offenders. Institutional based

correction is responsible for maintaining physical custody of the

offender including the supervision of its facilities, programs,

procedure, personnel and techniques concerned with the intake,

custody, and confinement. The agencies who are responsible in

the institutional based correction are the Bureau of Corrections,

Provincial Jails and the BJMP or the Bureau of Jail Management

and Penology. The first agency is the Bureau of Corrections or

BUCOR is an attached agency of the Department of Justice or

DOJ. Their principal task is for the rehabilitation of prisoners. They

are responsible for the supervision and control of national and

provincial prisons and of all penal settlements and in charge of

safekeeping of all prisoners confined therein or committed to the

custody. This agency maintains its offices at the New Bilibid Prison

Facilities in the city of Muntinlupa, Metro Manila. It exercises over

control and supervision of all the correction or prison facilities

nationwide. The Leyte Regional Prisons, Davao Penal Colony,

Sablayan Penal Colony, San Juan Prison and Penal Farm, Iwahig

Penal Colony, and Correction Institution for Women. The next

agency is the Provincial Jails, they are responsible for the

safekeeping of prisoners at the capital of each province and in the

absence of special provision all expenses incident to the

maintenance thereof and maintaining of prisoners are borne with

the province. The provincial board establishes and provided for the

maintenance and improvement of jails and detention centers,

institute a sound jail management program, and appropriate funds

for the subsistence of detainees and convicted prisoners in the

provinces. And the last but not the least agency in the institutional

based correction agencies is the BJMP or the Bureau of Jail

Management and Penology. The Bureau of Jail Management and

Penology or BJMP was created as a distinct and separate line of

bureau by the virtue of Republic Act of 6975 other wise known as

the Department of Interior and Local Government Act of 1990. It

envision as a dynamic and responsive institution which upholds

professional jail services to promote public safety. It has the

mission to ensure public safety by providing quality jail

management and services in all district, city and municipal jails

through efficient and humane safekeeping and rehabilitation of

inmates. Its objective is to improve the living conditions of

offenders in accordance with the accepted standards set by the

United Nations, to enhance rehabilitation and reformation of

offenders in preparation for their eventual reintegration into the

mainstream of society upon their release and to professionalize jail

services. The institutional based correction focuses on the

rehabilitation of convicted criminal offenders where all kinds of

programs that can help the person deprive from liberty into a better

person so that in the near future they can be part of the community

to further make our civilization a better place and can produce

better innovation.