About 1,664 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) in Central Luzon have recently been fully vaccinated. This figure equates to 18.6 percent of the 8,856 total population of PDLs in the region.
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Assistant Regional Director for Operations Andrew Tauli said the vaccination of PDLs is of their utmost priority amid the rising cases of COVID-19, exacerbated by the presence of other variants of concern.
“In fact, the vaccines that we inoculate to our PDLs are coming from local government units. This is for their safety and well-being,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJMP is conducting welfare and development activities in the form of a Therapeutic Community Modality Program to manage the behavioral, intellectual, spiritual, and social aspects of the PDLs to ensure that their morale is still high despite the pandemic.
“The program is being spearheaded by our health unit and our nurses who regularly check and talk to them to make sure that they are in high spirits,” Tauli said.
He reiterated that jails in the region are implementing the e-dalaw program where PDLs talk to their families via online platforms as personal visitations are still not allowed.
Tauli also shared that BJMP is providing skills training or enhancement programs with the assistance of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and educational programs through the Alternative Learning System.
“For their training, we are using electronic gadgets with different software so that we could impart what we want to teach them,” he said.
BJMP also encourages PDLs to practice solid waste management, and plant vegetables for their consumption in the roofings of the jails, or in the walls by means of vertical gardens. (PIA-3)
