BASIC TERMINOLOGIES

IN CORRECTIONAL
ADMINISTRATION

Penology is the study of punishment of crime or of criminal

offenders. It includes the study of control and prevention of
crime through the punishment of criminal offenders.

● The term “poena” is derived from Latin which

means pain or suffering.
● Penology is otherwise known as ”Penal
Science”.
Professor’s Discussion: Penology has the classical doctrine
influence in which they believe people seek pleasure and try to
avoid pain. For example, if Keshy thinks about stealing the
money and then realizes that she could go to jail for it, she might
not steal it because she'll be trying to avoid the pain of jail. In this
way, the classical school of criminology believed that
punishment works as a deterrent to crime. Penology is more on
the principle of punishing the offender simply because of his/her
wrongdoing.

PENAL MANAGEMENT – refers to the manner or practice of

managing or controlling places of confinement, such as jails or
prisons.

What is CORRECTIONS?

CORRECTIONS – a branch of the Criminal Justice System

concerned with the custody, supervision, and rehabilitation of
criminal offenders.

The criminal justice system, essentially, is the system or process

in the community by which crimes are investigated, and the
persons suspected thereof are taken into custody, prosecuted in
court and punished, if found guilty, provisions being made for
their correction and rehabilitation. (Valle-Corpuz, M. Ret. 2020)
Professor’s Discussion: Our Philippine Criminal Justice System
is composed of Five Pillars, namely, Law, Enforcement,
Prosecution, Judiciary, Penology (Corrections), and the
Community. The functions of corrections are to provide control,
custody, and care to any person convicted of a criminal case.
The purpose of corrections is to separate criminals from the
society in which they will be corrected and brought back to the
community once a sentence has been served. Corrections has
been influenced by Positivism (a doctrine, in which they believe
that there are outside factors that influence a person to commit a
crime such as insanity. Positivist Criminology assumes that
criminal behavior has its own distinct set of characteristics.
Therefore, the main focus of corrections is correcting the
offender for his/her wrongdoing and not punishing him/her.

CORRECTIONAL ADMINISTRATION – the study and practice of

system management of jails or prisons and other institutions
concerned with the custody, treatment, and rehabilitation of
criminal offenders

HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVES

The history of Corrections is riddled with the best of intentions

and the worst of abuses, correctional practices and facilities
(e.g., galley, slavery, transportation, jails and prisons, and
community corrections) were created, to remove both poor and
criminals from urban streets or at least to control and shape
them. Prisons and community corrections were also created to
avoid the use of more violent or coercive responses to such folk.
(Stohr, M. K., & Walsh, A. (2018)

13TH Century: Popularly known as Securing Sanctuary In the

13th century, a criminal could avoid punishment by claiming
refugee in any consecrated church (a church that was declared
sacred) for a period of 40 days, at the end of which time he is
compelled to leave the said place by following a road or path
assigned to him.
‘If any thief or homicide or other guilty person flee from fear of
death to this church, let him not be harmed, but let him be
released wholly free’ (Davis 1913: charter no. 62). (Lippert, R. K.
and S. Rehaag (2013)

16th Century: Exiling Criminals

Transportation or exiling of criminals in England was authorized.

At the end of the 16th century, Russia and other European
countries followed this system. It partially relieved the
overcrowding of prisons.
Professor’s Discussion: Criminals were being relocated to a
distant place, transportation removed the offender from society,
mostly permanently, but was seen as more merciful thancapital
punishment. This transportation/exiling of criminals removes the
comfort of being near their families.

Between 1788 and 1868, 165,000 convicts were transported to

Australia. In the records compiled by one of the Bedford Prison
Governors, Robert Evans Roberts. The Gaol records show many
individuals being sentenced to 7 or 14 years. (Gooii. (n.d.)

However, in the 1830's, anti-transport champion Sir William

Molesworth, a Member of the House of Commons Select
committee, concluded it did not work in deterring crime and
should be abolished in favor of gang labor on public works.
(Gooii. (n.d.)

By this time several well-established colonial areas were refusing

to accept the convicts. They were attracting emigrants who could
carry out the laboring work. Settlers who had arrived legally
resented having prisoners sent to them. Transportation had also
become very expensive, and so the government looked for
cheaper solutions to the criminal problems at home. (Gooii.
(n.d.)
Transportation used to
exile criminals

Transportation used to exile criminals

GALLEYS - ong, low, narrow, single decked ships propelled by

sails, usually rowed by criminals.
HULKS - decrepit transport, former warships used to house
prisoners in the 18th and 19th century, they are abandoned
warships converted into prisons, also called “floating hells”.

17th Century to late 18th Century: Death Penalty

Death penalty became prevalent as a form of punishment.

Death penalty is one of the most controversial issues in the

world. The fairness of its application is debated in classrooms,
political arenas, and in the media. Capital punishment is certainly
one of the most hotly contested criminal justice issues that
receive significant media attention. (Public Executions. (n.d.)

METHODS OF DEATH PENALTY EXECUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES

METHODS OF DEATH PENALTY EXECUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES
• GARROTE - This became popular when 3 friar's priests commonly addressed as GOMBURZA
were executed in 1872 by the Spanish colonial rules for exposing the realities of the church. In
1902, the Philippine Commission abolished the use of garrote as a means of executing
criminals and substituted in place thereof execution by hanging.
• MUSKETRY - National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal died due to the alleged rebellion to the Spanish
government. Drug Lord Lim Seng met his death sentence by firing squad in 1973 at Fort
Bonifacio during Martial Law.
• BEHEADING - Guerillas apprehended were beheaded by Samurai
Sword at the Japanese Kempeitai Garrison in 1943.
• HANGING - the famous tiger of Malaysia Yama**a died from hanging from the 13th footsteps
platform in 1946.
• ELECTRIC CHAIR - The Muntinlupa electric chair has claimed more than 7o lives convicted of
capital offenses since its installation
4-decades ago. One notable case that used an electric chair was Marciál "Baby' Ama,
electrocuted at the age of 16 on October 4, 1961.
He was credited for leading the biggest jail riot in Muntinlupa
Penitentiary history which ended in nine prisoners death with one beheaded.
• LETHAL INJECTION - While the 1987 constitution abolished the death sentence, however,
Congress in 1996 passed RA 7659 as amended by RA 8177 that Imposes the death penalty for
heinous crime by lethal injection.
• Leo Pilo Echegaray (11 July 1960 - 5 February 1999) was the first Filipino to be meted the
death penalty after its reinstatement in the Philippines in 1993. He was executed by
LETHAL INJECTION and his death sparked national debate over the legality and morality of the
death penalty, which was later suspended on 15 April 2006.

Drugs used for Lethal Injection are Pancuronium-Bromide = a drug capable of paralyzing the
muscles. Potassium Chloride= capable of stopping the heartbeat within seconds, this is
commonly used in heart-bypass operations. Midazolam = to sedate.
OTHER FORMS OF
EXECUTION

OTHER FORMS OF EXECUTION

● STONING – It is a form of execution wherein the

condemned person is pelted with stones
● BEHEADING – A form of capital punishment
practiced in ancient Greece and Europe, the
punishment is reserved for offenders of high
rank and for notorious criminals. The
condemned man’s neck is placed on the
wooden curved wood specially designed for
the purpose. Most often, the doomed man is
black hooded with both hands tied at the back
before his head is positioned at the chopping
block. At a given signal, the head is axed and
the severed head falls on the truck provided,
therefore. Today, beheading continues to be the
method of execution for capital punishment in
many Muslim countries including China.
● CRUCIFICTION – A person convicted to death
was nailed on the cross with both hands and
feet to add ignominy to his agony and
humiliation he was crowned with the specter of
vines of spines on his head. Then the Roman
pears were thrust to his flesh body and died of
asphyxiation.
● BURNING AT STAKE – Form of execution
wherein the convict is tied in a pole and then
set on fire alive.
● FEEDING TO THE LIONS – The offender is
thrown in a lion’s den.
● PILLORY – Bevier’s Dictionary defines pillory
as a wooden machine, in which the neck of the
doomed culprit is inserted thereof and usually
executed in public as a means of punishing the
offenders in Europe and Colonial America.
○ Pillory is a wooden frame with three curved
holes in it (two for the left and right wrists
and the middle curved hole is for the neck)
and mounted on the post upon a platform,
the condemned man was left to die at the
mercy of unfriendly weather. Other similar
forms with holes for the offender’s feet are
called STOCK.
● DECAPITATION – derived from a LATIN word
“DE” meaning FROM and “CAPUT “meaning a
HEAD. Instead of using axe, the
methodemployed is by the use of a sword and
the practice is widespread in China and Muslim
States.
● FLAGELLATION – An X-designed log was
cross-joined and declined at 65 degrees
backward. The hooded doomed-man was tied
on the cross-x with both hands spread upward
while the feet were spread apart. The con-man
is bared naked except with the skimpy short
pants.
○ The whipping rod is made of stripped hard
leather with brass buttons laid across and
embedded at the tips. At the given signal,
six men will whip 30 lashes each alternately
and will continue, except upon the
intercession of the victim or the State
which shall, this intervention of the
aggrieved to stop is tantamount to pardon
and the co-man shall be released to
freedom.
● GARROTE – An iron collar attached upon a
scaffold formerly used in Spain and Portugal.
 The convict is seated on the improvised chair
with both hands and feet tied. Then, the
victim's neck is placed on the collar attached to
it, finally, the iron collar is slowly tightened by
the screw at the back chair by the executioner
until the death convict is pronounced dead.
○ This method of execution was abolished in
the Philippines by virtue of Act.451
● GUILLOTINE – A device for cutting off people’s
heads developed in 1792 by Dr. Joseph Ignacio
Guillotin, a member of the French National
Assembly, proposed that all executions must
be uniform and painless.
● ELECTRIC CHAIR – The convict is seated in a
chair made of electrically conducting materials
with a strap of electrodes on the wrist, ankles,
and head. Upon orders, the lever will be pulled
up and fatal volts of alternating current passes
the body until the convict dies. If ever the
convict is still alive, the lever shall be pulled
again until he is pronounced dead.
● HANGING- Most executions are conducted at
dawn. The executioner will place a cloth over
his head. Steel weights are strapped to the legs
of the death convict to ensure that he/she will
 die quickly. Then the rope will be placed around
the neck of the convict, and, finally, the
platform will be removed.
● MUSKETRY – Most often, the convict is black
hooded with hands tied and may face or snub
the firing squad.
● GAS CHAMBER - Invented after World War I by
a Medical Corps Officer of the US Army as an
alternative to the electric chair. In medical
terms, the convict will die from Hypoxia, which
means death due to the cutting-off of oxygen in
the brain. The convict is placed in a sealed
chamber where the carbon monoxide is
introduced until the convict is pronounced
dead.
Professor’s Discussion: Today's corrections system is much
different than the early punishment system. The history of
corrections has evolved throughout the years, from savage
punishment to the enlightenment stage where people are being
punished depending on the gravity of the crime they have
committed. Prisons are considered unique institutions. They
were established to be responsible for the custody, treatment,
and rehabilitation of offenders. Correctional administration has
been more concerned with the restoration and rehabilitation of
criminals in which their main goal is to bring back the offender to
society and prevent him/her from committing another crime.
However, even with so many improvements that have been
imposed on correctional administration, correction is still
considered the weakest pillar of the criminal justice system.
Why? because they fail to reform some offenders and prevent
them from returning to criminal life. But as a criminology student,
you have the opportunity to strengthen the ability of the
corrections system in the Philippines. As a future law
enforcement officer, you can change the perception of the people
and make the corrections system a more reliable pillar of the
Philippine criminal justice system