New Bilibid Prison

The New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, Philippines, is the main insular penitentiary designed to house the prison population of the Philippines. It is maintained by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) under the Department of Justice. As of October 2004, it has an inmate population of 16,747. The penitentiary had an initial land area of 551 hectares (1,360 acres). One hundred four hectares (260 acres) of the facility were transferred to a housing project of the Department of Justice. The Bureau of Corrections has its headquarters in the NBP Reservation.The Government plans to create a regional prison on Nueva Ecija through Public-Private Partnership.HistoryThe Old Bilibid Prison, then known as Carcel y Presidio Correccional occupied a rectangular piece of land that was part of the Mayhalique Estate in the heart of Manila. The old prison was established by the Spanish colonial government on 25 June 1865 via royal decree. It is divided into two sections: the Carcel, which could accommodate 600 inmates; and the Presidio, which could hold 527 prisoners.Due to increasing crime, the Philippine Government enacted Commonwealth Act No. 67 and a new prison was built in Muntinlupa on 551 hectares of land at an area considered at that time to be "remote". Muntinlupa sits quite a few miles southeast of the heart of Manila, on the shores of Laguna de Bay. Construction began on New Bilibid in 1936 with a budget of one million pesos. In 1940, the prisoners, equipment and facilities were transferred from Old Bilibid to the new prison. The remnants of the old facility was used by the City of Manila as its detention center then known as Manila City Jail. In 1941, the new facility was officially named "The New Bilibid Prison".