Dr Patac joins City of Muntinlupa

Per request of Muntinlupa Mayor Aldrin San Pedro to Department of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez dated July 23,2007, Dr Edilinda Garcia-Patac joined the City Government of Muntinlupa in August ,2007. She is being designated as the Officer-in-Charge of the City Health Department and concurrent the Health Policy and Hospital Management Director of Ospital ng Muntinlupa. She was tasked to assist the Honorable Mayor in formulating policy directions on Health administration.
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Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA) Auckland, New Zealand 2006

at Work:

The Philippines' Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Executive Officials attended the Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA) with Dr Edilinda G. Patac held on November 24 - December 1, 2006 at Rendezvous Hotel in Auckland New Zealand. Bureau Director Vicente G. Vinarao presented the National Report on the Contemporary Issues in Corrections. Dr. Patac presented her piece on the specialist workshop on what program, based on agency's experience, could effectively manage the drug offenders convicted at BuCor.

at Play :

International Conference of Prison Administrators(ICPA) Canada 2006

As member, Dr Edilinda Patac attended the International Conference of Prison Administrators ( ICPA) in Vancouver Canada on October 23 - 26, 2006. She presented two papers on the effective management of drug offenders and children in conflict with law who are committed at the Philippines' Bureau of Corrections


on leisure ...

106th Anniversary of the Civil Service Commission ( Philippines)

Dr. Edilinda Patac was chosen as one of the 18 semi-finalists of the Search for Outstanding Public Official - PAG-ASA Award CSC- in Septembert 2006- 106th Anniversary of the Civil Service Commission

The Philippine National Prison’s Therapeutic Community Center

The WORLD FEDERATION OF THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITIES (WFTC) Organizing Committee had chosen this submitted abstract to be presented on its conference on September 1-5,2006 in New York, USA

XXIII WORLD CONFERENCE
WFTC – Continuing the Journey
September 1-5, 2006

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
Presentation Title:

The Philippine National Prison’s Therapeutic Community Center
… “Doing More with Less “

Presentation Best Relates To:
Thematic Area- Evolution of the modern TC: Populations, Settings and Issues
Diversified TC treatment settings – IN PRISON TCs

Abstract:

Anchored on the twin mandates of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) towards effective safekeeping and rehabilitation of inmates, the BuCor Therapeutic Community Center (TCC) represents a totally new, innovative approach towards rehabilitation in a prison environment.

A holistic approach covering both ethical and moral boundaries, it restores the individual drug offender to a physically, psychologically and socially adapted person armed with employable skills necessary for his eventual re-emergence to the free community.

Operating against the backdrop of budget constraints, limited personnel, material and financial resources, the Center has grown over the years to become a fully-operational prison-based residential rehabilitation center. More importantly, it has achieved a reasonable level of success, with 62.5% of those released leading positive lives over a 6-year period.

Its novel structure encourages and fosters individual growth, empowering the inmates themselves to help and lift one another in a family atmosphere. Through this process, the TC program is reengineered, resulting in remarkable institutional and individual growth in spite of resource limitations.

The Therapeutic Community Center has in effect actualized the core theme of the Bureau of Corrections – that of “Doing More with Less through Effective Rehabilitation Programs”. With the ever-increasing inmate population coupled with limited resources, the Center is tasked to address these daunting challenges in an effective and sustained manner, in noble pursuit of its mission and vision beyond the millennium.

Author Information:

Name : EDILINDA GARCIA-PATAC, M.D., M.H.S.A.
Job Title : Chief, Reception and Diagnostic Center
Chief Executive Officer – Therapeutic Community Center,
BuCor
Head, Muntinlupa Juvenile Training Center
Acting Medical Coordinator , BuCor
Chairperson, Bids and Awards Committee
BUREAU OF CORRECTIONS

Street Address: Bureau of Corrections
Reception and Diagnostic Center
Camp Sampaguita
1776 Muntinlupa City
Country : Philippines

Some Pictures in Sweden

Course on Human Rights and Disability sponsored by SIDA in Stockholm, Sweden on May 8-19,2006




at work.........



on pleasure....

RECEPTION AND DIAGNOSTIC CENTER (RDC)

The Philippine national prison's RDC

Recognizing the need to properly orient newly committed prisoners to the Philippines' Bureau of Corrections, the Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC) was created through the issuance of Administrative Order no. 8, series of 1953 of the Department of Justice. It was patterned after the reception facilities of the California State Prison. The RDC is an independent institution tasked to receive, study, classify all national prisoners committed by final judgment to the National Penitentiary. The first RDC facility was created in Building no. 9 of the Maximum Security Compound of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Muntinlupa City. In a move to isolate the facility from the troubled maximum security wing then experiencing violence in 1973, RDC was relocated to Building no. 7, formerly referred to as Metro Jail of Medium Security Compound of Camp Sampaguita, NBP. To further insulate the newly received inmates from gang related exposures, the Center was transferred to the previous military command post adjacent the Medium Security facility where it is presently situated. The RDC is an entirely separate division with a highly technical function headed by the Chief of the RDC who oversees its independence in carrying its mandated tasks to receive study and classify all male national inmates committed to the Corrections by a competent court of authority. The Chief is directly responsible to the Director for all the activities undertaken by her personnel. Presently, RDC has a total of fifty (50) personnel, consisting of 21 civilian and 29 security officers, whose job functions are inter-related for a worthy implementation of its programs. The success of all prisons' rehabilitation process depends on how the RDC tackles the necessary orientation, diagnosis and treatment programs of the newly arrived inmates. Within the framework of staff and facilities, every effort is made to determine the inmate's strength as well as his moral weaknesses, his physical inadequacies, his character disorder, his educational, social and vocational needs. It is during the 60-day period, the critical initial contact between prisoner & his new environment that the primordial functions pertaining to care & treatment are exhaustively being carried out by the specialist staff. By the time the inmate is ready for transfer to any of the operating penal institutions, he has overcome all his fears and prejudices, has attained considerable adjustment, and is prepared to cooperate in the implementation of his treatment program. Being the initial stop of every national male prisoner, the RDC regularly continues to improve its rehabilitative programs. One such reform is the embracing of the behavioral modification modality. Primarily a program for drug dependents, the RDC Chief recognized the potential of applying the same principles to all committed inmates, thus the RDC was turned into a Therapeutic Community Camp on February 6, 2003. On June 4, 2004, the RDC also started to obliterate the gang marks of all newly committed prisoners in an effort to eradicate the gang system within the Bureau. On that same month, then Director Dionisio Santiago entrusted the administration of the Muntinlupa Juvenile Training Center (MJTC) to the RDC thru memorandum dated June 18, 2005. The latest achievement of the RDC was given thru memorandum of Director Vicente G Vinarao dated March 31, 2005 in which the RDC was tasked to execute administrative control over all other RDCs of the Bureau of Corrections. Therefore, the RDC has evolved into an institution that should be emulated. Its progress and current set-up has empowered the Center to take a positive approach towards modern day penology of rectification

Hope for Youth Offenders… a reality.

Children in conflict with law are called Youth Offenders or Juveniles in Conflict with Law. Are they languishing in jails and prisons today? There are so many articles already written about it, and almost instantaneously blaming the present administration about issues pertaining to juveniles.
As they always say “A Jail is no place for a child…” but because of the social conditions, a child is prone to commit mistakes, and one mistake in conflict with law, will cost the prime of his youth. What is the present government doing now to alleviate this social illness? Their numbers seem to swell, as these juveniles go in and out of jails. Have society lost their hope on our youth?
Being on the positive side, there is always hope, and it is a reality that youth offenders can be transformed into productive young citizens of our society. The answer is a definite Yes.
Pursuant to the mandate of the Department of Justice or DOJ as the principal law agency tasked to carry out the policy of the State to administer the correctional system, and the Bureau of Corrections which is primarily responsible for the security and rehabilitation of prisoners, the Muntinlupa Juvenile Training Center or MJTC was established in 2003 as a pilot project of the DOJ and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), segregating the youth offenders from that of the adult offenders.
Dr. Edilinda Garcia-Patac, head of MJTC describes the mission of the MJTC “To prepare youth offenders confined at the Bureau of Corrections for their eventual reintegration into the free society by segregating them from adult offenders and providing them a holistic rehabilitation program.” The MJTC facility is located within the Bureau of Corrections, Muntinlupa City, and is designed to accommodate juvenile offenders undergoing special rehabilitation programs and skills training. As envisioned, “a psychologically, intellectually, spiritually and physically rehabilitated youth offender with employable skills essential to his being a productive and responsible member of society.” As emphasized by Dr. Patac, a psychiatrist by profession, who also heads the Bureau of Corrections’ Reception and Diagnostic Center as chief.
A visit to the facility, one could see the serenity and conduciveness in the surroundings that is indeed suitable for a no-nonsense rehabilitation. Said facility can be considered at par with similar facilities in developed countries. Most importantly, MJTC is a haven away from social illness that is contaminating the unsuspecting youth, because of its rehabilitation and training programs. MJTC offers spiritual counseling, skills development and training programs such as welding, computer literacy and practical electricity courses to effect the physical, moral, spiritual and psychological rehabilitation of the juveniles, as well as enhance their employment capabilities to prepare them for their reintegration into the mainstream society.
The MJTC adopts the universally-accepted Therapeutic Community (TC) modality as its program base, emphasizing behavior modification on the part of the juvenile. In the end, personal growth and maturity is fostered in each juvenile, coupled with a sense of responsibility, honesty, humility and discipline – values necessary to sustain a productive and morally-guided life. The TC program for youth offenders was designed by Dr. Patac, which was successfully implemented in the Bureau of Corrections’ Drug Rehabilitation and Treatment Center or DTRC, inside the Medium Security Camp.
The MJTC is managed professionally within an environment that resembles a normal family, with the hierarchical ladder of a Therapeutic Community. Manned by selected, specially trained and dedicated personnel consisting of administrative staff, rehabilitation workers and security personnel, MJTC have achieved its primary vision. The continued support and assistance given by the Non-government Organizations (NGOs) and Religious Volunteer Groups have sustained MJTC in its daily operations.
In the Therapeutic Community, there are rewards and demerits, where the purpose is to develop among the youth offenders the sense of responsibility, honesty, humility and discipline. Upon admission, the treatment and rehabilitation begins using the various phases. The Therapy proper uses Transactional Analysis; Psychodrama; and Branch Groups as its techniques of implementation. Various skills development and training programs are also conducted. Aftercare services are given for the next six months after their completion, these are continuing services aimed at decreasing the risk of relapse and recidivism. These include group sessions and individual counseling. A follow-up study is conducted after program completion.
To fully achieve MJTC’s vision, additional skills training and livelihood programs are currently being developed. These programs include food processing, hair technology and reflexology, to name a few. Educational field trips in relation to their vocational training courses shall be implemented, as well as recommending them for future employment once released.
According to Dr. Patac, “All these shall be made possible in achieving our objectives through the coordination and support of various NGOs and concerned organizations for the youth’s welfare currently under confinement, with the end view towards the establishment of a National Juvenile Training Center that could comfortably accommodate 250 youth offenders, as we all join hands and channel our collective efforts towards youth offenders’ rehabilitation. It’s never too late. Yes, there is hope for them.”
Thus, Hope for Youth Offenders is a reality.