(Eagle News)–The government has resorted to digitalization of the country’s prison system records to address overcrowding.
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology chief Ruel Rivera said the implementation of the National Inmate Monitoring System was apart from the impending release of around 5000 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) this month by virtue of the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law.
The law allows for the reduction of the jail time of inmates with good conduct.
According to Rivera, the 5000 are apart from the 74000 PDLs released from January to October 30 this year.
With the NIMS, a project of the Department of Justice and the Department of Information and Communications Technology, all Parole and Probation Administration’s regional offices, 224 field offices, and the Central office are now connected via a wide area network (WAN).
This helps ensure a comprehensive monitoring of the progress of inmate cases, he said.
He said the BJMP has also designated paralegal officers in every jail whose job is to coordinate with the courts these cases in order to expedite their resolution.
“It is a whole of society approach, a whole of government approach,” he said.
