BJMP Conducts Drug Dependency Exam to Persons Deprived of Liberty

A total of 74 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) or jail inmates were subjected to a drug dependency examination by the Regional Trial Court Branches in Maasin City.

The test is one of the requirements for the approval of plea bargaining application for purposes of early release of these inmates with drug-related cases, said Senior Jail Officer II Sergio Maglines of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) – Maasin City.

The examinations for PDLs were conducted either at Pintuyan District Hospital, Mayor Alfred Social Action (MASA) Health Service Unit in Tacloban City and SALAG Treatment and Rehabilitation Center facility in Dulag, Leyte.

According to Maglines, a plea bargain is an agreement between a defendant and a prosecutor, in which the defendant (inmate) agree to plead guilty in exchange of an agreement by the prosecutor to drop one or more charges, reduce a charge to a less serious offense, or recommend to the judge a specific sentence acceptable to the defense.

“As criminal courts and jail facilities become even more crowded, prosecutors and judges feel increased pressure to move cases quickly through the system,”Maglines said.

He said criminal trials sometimes took months, while guilty pleas can often be arranged in minutes.

Also, the outcome of any given trial is usually unpredictable, whereas a plea bargain provides both the prosecution and defense with some control over the result, “hopefully, one that both can live with,” Maglines said.

In a related report, SJO2 Fedelita Ilustre disclosed that as of this writing, out of the total inmates examined, eight (8) of them have been released basing on the said arrangement. (LDL/RGC/PIA-8SoutherLeyte)