Quezon City Jail

Quezon City Jail is located in Quezon City northeast of Manila, Philippines, in the National Capital Region (NCR). It reports to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).^[2] The prison was built in 1953^[3] for 800 inmates but has since held 3,800 prisoners.^[4]

Quezon City Jail

Location	Epifanio de los Santos Avenue corner K-3rd Street, Barangay Kamuning, Quezon City, Philippines
Status	Operational
Capacity	800
Population	2,981^[1] (as of 2024)
Opened	1953
Managed by	Bureau of Jail Management and Penology
City	Quezon City
Country	Philippines

In 2024, the prison began transferring its inmates to a new 2.4-hectare facility in Barangay Payatas^[1] from its original premises in Barangay Kamuning.^[5]

Facilities

Kamuning

The original prison facility in Kamuning has a total floor area of about 30,000 square feet. In the early months of the Philippine Drug War in 2016, the prison population reached 4,053 with only 20 guards to monitor them. Around 60% of the inmates were facing drug charges. The congestion is also attributed to the inability of most inmates to pay for their bail. Three quarters of the prison population belonged to a gang, either Bahala Na, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Batang City Jail, or Commando. These gangs marked out their jurisdiction inside the prison through murals.^[3] By 2021, the prison population had decreased to 3,184, which still amounted to a congestion rate of 1,066%.^[5]

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, nine inmates and nine personnel were infected with COVID-19.^[6]

Payatas

The new prison facility, which was built on land formerly owned by the Quezon City government, consists of three five-story buildings consisting of 440 cells built to handle 20 inmates each. It also contains a visiting area, basketball court, and sunning area for prisoners.^[1]

References

1. "QC, BJMP transfer PDLs to new city jail facility". GMA News. April 14, 2024. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
2. Stern: Vorhof zur Hölle – erschütternde Bilder aus einem philippinischen Knast of 30 July 2016 (in German)
3. "Life inside the Philippines' most overcrowded jail". CNN. August 22, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
4. "This Photograph Makes Life Inside a Philippines Jail Look Like Dante's 'Inferno'". TIME. August 3, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
5. "New building to decongest cramped QC jail: BJMP". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
6. . Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.

14°37′46.960″N 121°2′44.106″E / 14.62971111°N 121.04558500°E / 14.62971111; 121.04558500