THE Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Davao (BJMP-11) led the ceremonial groundbreaking for the multi-million-peso New Davao City Jail Building located in Barangay Wangan, Calinan, Davao City Friday, October 26.
The facility is expected to help ease congestion at the detention facility in Davao City.
Jail Inspector Edo Lobenia, BJMP 11 spokesperson and community relations service officer chief, said in an interview Friday that the facility will be constructed on an eight-hectare property.
Project cost is estimated at P369 million, with P49-million counterpart fund from First District Representative Karlo Nograles.
Lobenia believed that the congestion problem of jails in Davao will be solved considering the new jail’s capacity of 5,000 inmates.
It is a four-story state-of-the-art building equipped with new facilities where rehabilitation programs will be properly implemented.
“Napakalaking bagay ito sa pag-address ng congestion rate dito sa Davao kasi makikita natin na ang ating Davao City Jail alone, meron tayong 3,000 plus na population,” Lobenia said.
Davao City Jail, as of January this year, has a total population of 3,378, or a congestion rate of 702 percent. The jail was designed to hold only 421 inmates.
The population increase at the city jail in Maa was triggered by the serious campaign of the current administration against illegal drugs.
The construction of the new jail facility is expected to be completed by 2020.
Lobenia added that the regular inmates in the city jail building will be transferred in this new facility while the sickly, female and elderly inmates will remain in Maa.
In her message delivered by BJMP 11 Regional Director Jail Senior Superintendent Amelia Rayandayan, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio congratulated BJMP 11 for the groundbreaking ceremony.
She likewise commended Lowella Garcia for donating the lot where it will be constructed.
“With the congestion of other jail facilities and intensive campaign of authorities against illegal drugs, having this new jail here in Wangan will be pivotal in providing a conducive environment for the rehabilitation of the persons deprived of liberty,” Duterte-Carpio said.
The ceremony was attended by Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Nestor Quinsay, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH 11) Regional Director Allan Borromeo, and Nograles, among others.