Modern prisons eyed under PNoy’s PPP policy

With President Aquino capitalizing on public-private partnership (PPP) as the fulcrum of the national economic program, Congress has been urged to look into the state of the country’s prisons, with a view to recommending reforms, including the option of relegating to private firms the construction, operation and maintenance of modern detention, correction and rehabilitation facilities.

Rep. Arnel Ty of the party-list LPG/MA has filed House Resolution 1380, urging the appropriate House committees to weigh the feasibility of eventually asking private investors to build and run the nation’s next generation prisons under Mr. Aquino’s PPP policy.

Irregularities at the Bureau of Corrections, including privileged accommodations for preferred detainees in exchange for bribes, have recently put the spotlight on the dilapidated and congested conditions of national prisons.

Last week, the Department of Justice ordered the transfer of more inmates to the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, to ease severe congestion at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said the President sees the transfer of more inmates to Iwahig as a short-term solution to the overcrowding of the country’s main prison, while government draws up a long-term solution.

“The State has the duty to protect the public from felons by keeping them locked up under humane conditions. However, there is no law which prevents the State from contracting out to private firms, under rigorous government supervision, the performance of this duty,” said Ty, a member of the House committee on public order and safety.

“Two things are evident: The overcrowding of our detention facilities will worsen as their populations grow, and government does not have the wherewithal to build and run our future prisons,” he pointed out.

“In other parts of the world, there are already cost-effective private entities in the business of running facilities that provide board and lodging as well as rehabilitation services to detainees in a highly secure environment. There is no reason why we cannot duplicate this model here,” Ty added.

He cited the case of The GEO Group, which delivers correctional, detention, and rehabilitation services to government agencies in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and South Africa, offering a turnkey approach that includes design, construction, financing, and operations.

GEO’s worldwide operations include the management and/or ownership of some 80,000 beds at 116 correctional, detention and residential treatment facilities.

Ty also cited the case of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which provides partnership corrections to federal, state and local governments in the U.S., operating 66 facilities, including 45 company-owned facilities, with some 90,000 beds in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Besides providing the residential services for inmates, CCA facilities offer rehabilitation and development programs, including education, vocation, religious services, life skills and employment training and substance abuse treatment.

Both GEO and CCA are publicly held entities based in the U.S., with their shares of stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange.