The Department of Justice (DOJ) has finished the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 11928, the Separate Facility for Heinous Crimes Act, which mandates the setting up of one facility each in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao for heinous crimes convicts.

Once the IRR is signed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla, the law becomes enforceable 15 days after the publication of the rules.

Heinous crimes in the country “include treason, piracy and mutiny on the high seas in Philippine waters, qualified piracy, qualified bribery, parricide, murder, infanticide, kidnapping and serious illegal detention, robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons, destructive arson, and rape.”

DOJ Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic F. Clavano IV said the separate facilities for heinous crimes convicts will be “state-of-the-art facilities with surveillance cameras and the latest information technology and security systems capable of monitoring PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) 24 hours a day, and with enhanced and extensive security features on locks, doors, and its perimeters.”

Clavano said the facilities will be “built in a suitable location away from the general population and other PDLs, and preferably within a military establishment or on an island separate from the mainland” and “located in a secured and isolate place to ensure that there is no unwarranted contact or communication from outside if the penal institution.”

Once built, he said the transfer of the inmates should be enforced “within a period of thirty (30) days from the completion of the construction of the heinous crimes facility.”

“Each facility shall have separate buildings for male and female PDLs. A separate dormitory shall likewise be provided for PDLs who are members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) community,” he noted.

He also said that there would be “regular random drug testing among the PDLs convicted of heinous crimes in the facility.”

“Provisions for solar, biogas, rainwater harvesting, and the like shall be included in the design and construction of the facility to facilitate self-sustainability, in compliance with RA 10575 (Bureau of Corrections Act of 2013) and other existing laws, orders, rules and regulations,” Clavano said.

He emphasized that the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) will ensure that inmates shall be allowed “to communicate with their relatives and legal counsels, both by receiving visits and by means of alternative modes of communication such as through phone, video or correspondence, in accordance with the UN (United Nations) Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and other relevant international standards.”

Thus, he said, “the facility shall be equipped with effective and efficient Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and a software system that follows generally accepted standard for the digitization of all information necessary to be used in the build-up, maintenance and transmittal of necessary PDL records to all the prison and penal farms of the BuCor and other authorized government agencies.”.

“The ICT infrastructure and software system shall have a feature of well-established maintenance plan and integration model for information sharing with other law enforcement agencies and for effective monitoring of PDL confined in the Facility,” he added.

TAGS: #DOJ #BuCor #Heinous crimes