EU support help digitize BuCor inmates' records

MANILA – The digitization of the records of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCOR) inmates has been completed, the European Union (EU) announced on Monday.

More than 50,000 individual paper dossiers or carpetas were digitized with the support of the EU's Governance in Justice (EU-GOJUST) programme together with the Department of Justice.

Carpetas include PDLs' basic information from biometric description to sentencing. They are kept at the BuCor's main headquarters in Muntinlupa City.

EU-GOJUST provided equipment and technicians to scan all paper records and complete them with the biometric data of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs).

"The main objective of the EU's GOJUST programme is to promote access to justice to all, in the Philippines, including Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs). And I am therefore very proud that the EU's support to digitization of carpetas, and our support to the building of the National Justice Information System, will help agencies in their efforts to decongest prisons," said EU Ambassador to the Philippines Massimo Santoro.

Previously, paper records' had to be scanned and faxed whenever PDLs had to be consulted by BuCor's correctional facilities outside Metro Manila.

The digitized records now allow BuCor's facilities to access their inmates' files and monitor their cases, including the timely identification of those eligible for release.

"The path we are paving towards the seamless administration of justice is becoming clearer, and the goal at the end of the road is beginning to take shape. We improve our systems to provide real-time justice for all, regardless which side of the justice system you are on," Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said.

The Philippines is amongst the countries with the highest levels of jail congestion worldwide at 239 percent overcapacity as of May 2024.

The PDLs' digitized records and the interconnection of the justice sector institutions would allow speedy processing of cases which is one of the key measures in decongesting correctional facilities.

EU-GOJUST's support for BuCor's digitalization program amounted to more than P12 million.

This supports the Philippines' compliance with one of the commitments in the Fourth Philippine Human Rights Plan.

BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. thanked Ambassador Santoro for their generosity in helping facilitate the digitization of PDL records.

The digitization also helped BuCor in monitoring the status of PDLs to determine eligibility for early release; calculating credits for preventive imprisonment (CP) and time allowances for PDLs; maintaining health information for PDLs; and utilizing biometric data and other personal identifiers for PDL identification.

The ICT equipment will be allocated to seven operational prisons and penal farms across the nation, including New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan; Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro; San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, and Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog town, Leyte province. (PNA)