EDITORIAL - Crime command center

Whether or not Sen. Leila de Lima was involved in drug deals and corruption in the New Bilibid Prison, the probe being conducted by a committee at the House of Representatives reinforces the need for a thorough cleansing of the NBP and overhaul of the corrections system.

De Lima’s role aside, testimonies of the convicts presented at the hearing jibed with the situation at the NBP that was featured in a documentary on Discovery Channel. The picture that emerged was a national penitentiary where the government had ceded control to favored prisoners, who ran the facility like a central command for organized crime.

 How this situation became possible is up to lawmakers and probers of the Department of Justice to determine. Even as the probes continue, however, authorities must draw up measures to ensure that the situation will never be seen again, and penitentiaries will serve their main purpose – as facilities for penalizing those who break the law. At the same time, they must serve the other purpose of modern corrections, which is to rehabilitate inmates and prepare them for reintegration into the social mainstream, with the idea that certain prisoners can still be productive, law-abiding members of society.

 The Duterte administration felt the need for the unprecedented deployment of the police Special Action Force to restore order in the nation’s largest prison. Authorities have assured the public that the deployment is achieving its objectives, but admit that the work of ridding the NBP of the drug menace and other criminal activities is not yet done.

 The SAF cannot be perpetually assigned as prison custodians, and regular prison guards will eventually have to take over the NBP again. By that time, implementation of structural reforms should have already started. Officials in charge of corrections have said new guards may have to be recruited and trained for the NBP, since the rot appears to be pervasive in the penitentiary. Whatever it takes, changes must be made. A national penitentiary that serves as command center for the illegal drug trade is one of the worst manifestations of a criminal justice system that has broken down.