Freedom and Death Inside the Jail.pdf - The Action Program for ...

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Freedom and Death Inside The Jail
One paralegal officer should attend to 500 inmates at most. This
means that with the population of its inmates, Quezon City Jail
should have at least seven paralegal officers. At present, however,
the Jail only has four and one of them is on study leave. Thus, one
paralegal officer attends to at least 1,066 inmates.
Every Monday, the Paralegal Section conducts an orientation to
newly committed inmates, where they discuss topics like “Rights
of the Accused,” “Criminal Procedures,” and “Different Modes of
Release.” Every Thursday, they hold a “Paralegal Hour,” where
resource persons from the criminal justice sector such as judges
and PAO lawyers are invited to do lectures. Every year, in cooperation
with Preso Foundation, the paralegal section sponsors
“Talakayan,” which is an open forum with the different persons
involved in the country’s criminal justice system—police officers,
prosecutors, judges, jail officers, and government officials.
Paralegal officers receive a monthly allowance of P400 for operational
expenses. The amount is barely enough to get their job done
as each of them facilitates at least 70 cases every month. Most of
the time, they draw from their own pockets for their transportation
and for photocopies of voluminous documents pertinent to
the cases they are handling.
Rehabilitation Officers
The Rehabilitation Division executes the principal mission of
Quezon City Jail, which is to prepare inmates for their eventual
reintegration into mainstream society. Accordingly, it conducts
and supervises religious, livelihood, psychiatric, educational,
sports, and recreation programs. It coordinates with NGOs and
other government agencies that have reformation programs for
inmates. It also provides escort services to inmates who need to
go to the National Center for Mental Health.
There are nine rehabilitation workers in Quezon City Jail. The
chief of the Rehabilitation Section divides work among themselves
according to programs. As in the case of other personnel,
however, rehabilitation workers sometimes double as escort and
custodial officers.
Lack of space and facilities is a main concern for rehabilitation
personnel. The only functional areas in the Jail that they can use
are the chapel and the quadrangle or the plaza. Most of the open
spaces inside the Jail have been transformed into cells to accommodate
the growing inmate population.
As such, the Rehabilitation Section also has to limit the number
of programs and services it provides. The space allotted for livelihood
programs, for example, had to be reduced in order to give
way to the mini-gym. The time allotted for educational programs