Navotas jail congestion drops from 2,000% to 700%

MANILA, Philippines — The Navotas City Jail, once the country’s most congested jail, will have more space for its inmates after a 350-square-meter extension was inaugurated yesterday to ease the plight of detainees. 

Mayor John Rey Tiangco, Vice Mayor Clint Geronimo and jail warden Chief Inspector Ricky Heart Pegalan led the blessing and inauguration yesterday of the two-story facility just beside the city hall. 

Pegalan said the jail extension measuring 350 square meters will add more space to the already congested 693.72-square- meter detention facility, which currently houses 955 inmates.

This means Navotas will no longer be the most congested jail in the country, Pegalan told The STAR in an interview.

The new jail annex, housed in the city’s former social welfare office, effectively reduced the present congestion rate of 2,413.16 percent to 737.8 percent.

In a presentation, Pegalan said the number of inmates in Navotas increased due to intensified police operations in the war on drugs – from just 579 inmates in 2015, 739 in 2016, 927 in 2017, 933 in 2018, and 955 so far this year.

Seven of 10 inmates at the jail are detained on illegal drug charges, he added.

There are six dormitories measuring 179.52 square meters in the present facility. With the new jail annex, there will be 10 more dormitories, increasing the floor area for cells to 539.52 square meters.

“It will significantly lower the congestion rate and uplift the living conditions of our persons deprived of liberty,” Pegalan said.

Tiangco said when he assumed office in 2010, the Navotas jail only housed around 200 inmates.

The city goverment alloted at least P6 million for the renovation of the two-story building into a jail annex, he added.