HISTORY OF

CORRECTION
 Corrections in the Philippines started
during pre colonial times. It was
however organized on individual
community basis. It was only during the
Spanish regime when an organized
corrective service was made operational.
 WHEN THE AMERICANS TOOK
OVER IN THE 1900s, THE BUREAU
OF PRISONS WAS CREATED
UNDER THE RE-ORGANIZATION
ACT OF 1905 (Act No. 1407 dated
November 1, 1905)
 The main penitentiary was the Old
Bilibid prison in Oroquieta Street,
Manila, which was established in 1847
pursuant to Section 1708 of the Revised
Administrative Code. It was formally
opened by a Royal Decree in 1865. About
four years later or on August 21, 1869,
the San Ramon prison and penal farm in
Zamboanga City was established to
confine Muslim rebels and recalcitrant
political prisoners opposed to the
Spanish rule.
 The facility, which faces Jolo sea, has the
Spanish-inspired dormitories and originally
seWhen the Americans took over in the 1900s,
the Bureau of Prisons was created under the
Reorganization Act of 1905 (Act No. 1407 dated
November 1, 1905) as an agency under the
Department of Commerce and Police. It also
paved the way for the re-establishment of San
Ramon Prison in 1907 which was destroyed
during the Spanish-American War
 On January 1, 1915, the San Ramon
Prison was placed under the auspices of
the Bureau of Prisons and started
receiving prisoners from Mindanao.
 Produce were transported through rail
tracks, a mode which the Americans
introduced to prison.
 Prisoners had to contend with
dilapidated facilities within the cramped
area
 Before the reconstruction of San Ramon Prison,
the Americans established in 1904, the Iuhit
penal settlement (now Iwahig Prison and Penal
Farm) on a vast reservation of 28,072 hectares.
It would reach an aggregate total land area of
40,000 hectares in the late 1950s. It was located
on the westernmost part of the archipelago and
far from the maintown to confine incorrigibles
who the government had found little hope of
rehabilitation. The area was expanded to 41,007
hectares by virtue of Executive Order No. 67
issued by Governor Newton Gilbert on October
15, 1912.
 Other penal colonies were established during
the American regime. On November 27, 1929,
the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW)
was created under Act No. 3579 while Davao
Penal Colony in Sourther Mindanao was
opened in 1932 under Act No. 3732. The CIW
was fo7unded to provide separate facilities for
women offenders and to cater to their gender
difference. To date, it is the lone women’s
prison in the country.t on a 1,414 hectares
sprawling estate.
 Owing to the increasing number of committals
to the Old Bilibid Prison in Manila, the New
Bilibid Prison was established in 1935 in a
southern suburb of Muntinlupa, Rizal. The old
prison was transformed into a receiving center
and as a storage facility for farm produce
coming from the colonies. It is presently
abandoned and under the jurisdiction of the
Public Estates Authority.
 Prisoners have to build their basic housing
areas using materials available in the prison
reservation.
 After the American regime, two more penal
institutions were established. These were
Sablayan Prison and penal farm in Occidental
Mindoro under Proclamation No. 72 issued on
September 26, 1954 and Leyte Regional Prison
under Proclamation No. 1101 issued on
January 16, 1973.
 The Bureau of Prisons was renamed Bureau of
Corrections under the New Administrative
Code of 1987 issued on November 23, 1987 and
Proclamation no. 495 of the President. It is one
of the attached agencies under the supervision
and control of the Department of Justice.