Reaction Paper in Correctional Administration

5/24/2018 Reaction Paper in Correctional Administration

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A COMPARISON

SUBMITTED BY:

JOVIE D. DACOYCOY

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN CRIMINOLOGY III

SUBMITTED TO:

MR. VALENTIN A. LEJENCIO

PROFESSOR

DATE SUBMITTED:

MARCH 15, 2013


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The prisons of today have vastly evolved from the prisons of yesteryears. The

prisoners of the past were characterized by extreme cruelty and brutalization of those

who have the unfortunate fortune of being caught on the wrong side of the law. The

principal purpose of a prison in the past used to be custodial so that vengeance and

punishment can be exacted from the convict by the state. The motive behind this is not

only to get even with the offender for his non-conformism but also to serve as

deterrence to others to follow the dictates of the rulers or suffer an ignominious fate.

As the human rights movement grew stronger over the years and the winds of

democratic changes swept the world, innovations were slowly and grudgingly

introduced. Little by little, some semblances of service and inmate improvement

programs were adopted. Today, prisons focusing on custody and security with little

services are gone except those super maximum prisons where a small number of

obstinate inmates considered by the establishment rulers as ultra-dangerous and high-

risk are housed. But even in these prisons, the inevitable march toward treatment,

rehabilitation and reformation is going on.

Today, prisons are committed to preserve the inmate and prepare him to live a

useful and productive life in the mainstream of society upon release. It is so hard not to

miss the changes going on. Even in names, these waves of changes are unmistakable.

The prisoners of yesterday were called convicts. As democracy marched forward, they

were renamed inmates. And now there are moves afoot to change the term to interns, as

if they are now the same as medical students doing practical training in hospitals.


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Correction is one of the five branches of the Criminal Justice System concerned

with the custody, supervision and rehabilitation of criminal offenders. Correction

administration is the study and practice of a systematic management of jails or prisons

and other institutions concerned with the custody, treatment and rehabilitation of

criminal offenders.

As one of the pillars of the criminal justice system, the Philippine Corrections

Pillar at present has two (2) systems based approaches. One is the institution-based and

the other in the non-institution or community-based system. Both systems are being

implemented on a fragmentary basis by three (3) departments of the executive branch

of government. These are the Department of Justice (DOJ), which takes care of national

prisoners, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), which takes care

of municipal, city and provincial prisoners, and the Department of Social Welfare and

Development (DSWD), which takes care of, sentenced youth offenders.

Not all convicted offenders have to serve their sentence behind bars some are

allowed to stay in the community, subject to the conditions imposed by the government

- non-institutional correction.

The first penal institution in the country, whose scope is a national penitentiary

in nature, was established even before the effectivity of the Spanish Penal Code. This

prison facility is the Bilibid Prison, located at the back of what is today, the central

Market along Quezon Boulevard. Twenty-two years after the establishment of the

Bilibid Insular Penitentiary, the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm followed in 1869.

This prison and penal farm was constructed near the southern tip of Zamboanga

peninsula nearby what is now Zamboanga City. Moreover, one of the first acts of the

Bureau of Prisons under the Department of Commerce and Police upon its creation is to

reverse the status of Iwahig Penal Colony as a destination for maximum-security


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incorrigible prisoners. Instead, convicts who were all behaved and pliable wereassigned to this facility.

On November 27, 1929, Republic Act 3579 was passed into law establishing the

Correctional Institution for Women. This penal institution for women was constructed

on an 18-hectare piece of land in what is now Mandaluyong City. However, the Davao

Penal Colony was established at almost the same time and under the same authority

that the New Bilibid Prison was established in January 21, 1932 by virtue of Republic

Act No. 3732 and Proclamation No. 414, series of 1931. The New Bilibid Prison was

transferred from Manila to Muntinlupa. This was due to the increasing number of

convicts being housed at the Bilibid Prison in Azcarraga and there was a need to build alarger plant away from the city.

The nest penal facility to be constructed is the Reception and Diagnostic Center,

which was established in 18953 by virtue of Administrative Order No. 11 issued by the

Secretary of Justice. The center was established to enable the Bureau of Corrections to

conduct a more effective rehabilitation of prisoners committed to the Bureaus care

through a more scientific study and diagnosis of each and every prisoner committed to

the Bureau.

A year later, on September 27, 1954, the President of the Philippines issued

Proclamation No. 72 allocating 16,000 hectares of land in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro

for the setting up of another penal colony. The Sablayan Penal Colony and farm was

established to meet the increasing population of prisoners that is already causing

serious congestion. The last penal facility to be built by the Bureau of Prisons is the

Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog, Leyte. This was established in January 16, 1973 on the

orders issued under Martial Law by President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

The abovementioned penal colony in the Philippines is the settlement wherein

the prisoners are serving their specified prison sentence.


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A community correction offers viable alternatives to incarceration for offendersat various stages of the criminal justice process. The alternatives which may be available

to offenders include: bail supervision programs, alternative measures programs,

restitution programs, fine options programs, community service order, probation,

intensive supervision probation, conditional sentence of imprisonment, attendance

centre programs, electronic monitoring, community-based centers, temporary absence

programs and parole. Community corrections alternatives may not be used to divert

offenders from prison, in which case they can actually increase correctional costs

because jail populations remain constant and there are the additional costs of the

community programs.

Community corrections programs are said to be an obviousimprovement over traditional corrections programs for humanitarian reasons.

Community corrections are considered humanitarian in that they provide less serious

offenders with alternatives that let them continue with various aspects of their lives.

Community corrections programs are also considered to be humanitarian because they

avoid many of the negative effects of incarceration, including stigmatization, damage to

physical and/or mental health and constant exposure to criminal peers. Community

corrections programs also present opportunities to be more responsive to the needs of

offenders, victims and communities.

Community corrections programs also facilitate many of the factors associated

with an offender's successful re-integration into the community. For offenders being

released from incarceration into a community residential facility or community

correctional centre, the benefits of community corrections are obvious. Not only is the

offender provided with the opportunity to gradually re- integrate into society, he or she

is also able to pursue employment and educational opportunities. Further, family ties

are better maintained when an offender is residing at a community-based facility rather

than a prison.


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Community corrections programs are said to be an obvious improvement overtraditional corrections programs for humanitarian reasons. Community corrections are

considered humanitarian in that they provide less serious offenders with alternatives

that let them continue with various aspects of their lives. Community corrections

programs also present opportunities to be more responsive to the needs of offenders,

victims and communities.

However, the non institutional correction is a system in the correction

administration wherein the prisoners are serving their sentence outside the bars of the

penal institution and inside the community. It is done by any forms of executive

clemency such as reprieve, absolute pardon, conditional pardon with or without paroleconditions and commutation of sentence as may be granted by the president of the

Philippines.

Executive clemency is an act of grace extended by the President of the Republic

of the Philippines to a person who has been sentenced by final judgment of a duly

constituted court of tribunal, suspending the execution of sentence or changing it to a

less severe penalty or totally or partially extinguishing it with or without certain

specified conditions.

Reprieve is a temporary suspension or postponement of the execution of

sentence, especially of a sentence to death. While commutation of sentence changes or

modifies the punishment to which a person has been sentenced to a less severe one.

Conditional Pardon exempts the individual, within certain limits or conditions,

from the punishment the law inflicts for the crime he has committed, resulted in the

partial extinction of his criminal liability.

Absolute pardon refers to the total extinction of criminal liability of the

individual, to whom it is granted without any condition whatsoever, remitting the

penalty imposed for the particular offense of which he has convicted and restoring him

to his civil rights.


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Amnesty is an act of sovereign power granting oblivion or a general pardon for apast offense and is usually exerted in behalf of certain classes of persons.

Pardon is an act of grace and the recipient in not entitled to it as a matter of right.

Parole is a procedure by which prisoners are selected for release on the basis of

individual response to the correctional institution and a service progress and by which

they are provided with necessary controls and guidelines as they serve the remainder of

their sentence within the free community.

The abovementioned forms of executive clemency can be granted to a prisoner in

order to serve his sentence outside the community


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The following points are highly recommended in this study to remedy the

situation; the government shall direct its effort toward helping to alleviate five (5) major

problems facing corrections in the Philippines today, namely:

a. Jail and prison congestion,b. The inadequacy of training programs for personnel in institutional and

non-institutional corrections, and;

c. The need to give preferential attention to improving the quality of servicesin the rehabilitation of offenders.

d. Fragmented Set-Up of the Corrections Systeme. Lack of Information Technology Systems and Expertisef. Aim more for reformation and rehabilitation of offenders

Citizens must be helped to understand that effective community-based programs

are not simply another manifestation of a "soft on crime" philosophy. Instead, they offer

a combination of rehabilitation and punishment. In short, they provide a chance to

return offenders to the community as productive members of society.


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The improvement of the corrections system and the inmates successful

reintegration into the mainstream of society is not the sole responsibility of the

corrections pillar. The other pillars of the Philippine criminal justice system law

enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, and the community must also do their share. An

offender must be afforded his or her rights throughout the different stages of the

criminal justice system from the commission of the offence, to investigation and

apprehension, to prosecution, trial and conviction and, finally, punishment and

correction.

The community, in particular, plays a significant role in the administration of

criminal justice as it functions even before the commission of the offence. Failure of the

community to prevent the commission of an offence means an added responsibility of

rehabilitating the offender and reintegrating him or her into society.

Also, after going through the entire system, and after release - either by complete

satisfaction of penalties, or on probation or parole they either rejoin the community

and lead a peaceful life, or commit another crime and go through the criminal justice

system again. Greater community involvement in the treatment of offenders must,

therefore, be encouraged.

The Philippine government, despite many difficulties, has taken and continues to

take concrete steps towards the improvement of its prison/jail conditions and the

treatment of offenders. But the government cannot do this alone. It needs the

cooperation and active involvement of all the sectors in our societymedia, academe,

business, etc.


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Prison reforms can only be achieved through the active involvement of all themembers of society. Each one has a responsibility in making these reforms possible.

Decent and humane prison conditions can be realized, and prisoners can be successfully

rehabilitated if every sector of society will work together.

_____________________________________________________________________________________30 Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Andres R. Narvasa. Handbook on the Courts, and the

Criminal Justice System (1996), p. 31.


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Austin, J., & Krisberg, B. (1982, July). The unmet promise of alternatives to

incarceration. Crime and Delinquency.

Reeves, R. (1992, December). Finding solutions to the most pressing issues facing the

corrections community. Corrections Today, 54(8), 74-79.

Hylton, J. (1982, July). Rhetoric and reality: A critical appraisal of community

correctional programs. Crime and Delinquency.

Manwong, Institutional Correction Administration

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Andres R. Narvasa. Handbook on the Courts, and

the Criminal Justice System (1996), p. 31.

Documents

Reaction Paper in Correctional Administration