Correctional Administration
Domain 5 - Correctional Administration covers custody, treatment, and community reintegration across jails, prisons, probation, and parole.
Core rules
- BJMP jails hold city and municipal detainees and short-term sentenced prisoners; provincial jails hold provincial prisoners; BuCor operates national prisons for national prisoners. A jail is generally for detention or short sentences; a prison is for longer, national sentences.
- Probation is a community-based disposition under PD 968, generally available when the maximum penalty does not exceed six years and the offense is not disqualified. Parole is release after serving the minimum of an indeterminate sentence, granted by the Board of Pardons and Parole. Pardon is executive clemency; amnesty is a legislative act covering political offenses.
- RA 10592 amended GCTA rules. Good conduct allowances are earned through behavior and must be computed with documented deductions; they are not automatic. RA 9344 governs children in conflict with the law and favors restorative justice and diversion.
- PDL rights include humane treatment, due process, visitation, religious practice, and access to counsel, subject to security rules.
Worked example
An offender is sentenced to four years and two months. Because the maximum does not exceed six years, probation may be available if the crime is not excluded and he applies within the period. If he instead serves the minimum and seeks release, that is parole, not probation. The Board evaluates conduct, risk, and requirements; the court does not grant parole.
Traps
Do not use jail and prison interchangeably. Do not treat GCTA as automatic. Do not confuse probation with parole or pardon with amnesty. Do not ignore disqualifications under the probation law.