|
Chapter 5
Birth of the Reception and Diagnostic Center:
Recognizing the need to properly orient newly committed prisoners to the Bureau of Corrections, the Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC) was created through 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, and 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. To isolate the facility from the maximum security wing which was rocked by violence in 1973, the RDC was relocated to Building No. 7, formerly referred to as Metro Jail of the Medium Security Compound of Camp Sampaguita, NBP. To further insulate the newly received inmates from gangs, the Center was transferred to what was once the military command post adjacent to the Medium Security facility where the RDC remains to this day. The RDC is a separate division with a technical function. The Chief of the RDC sees to its independence in carrying out its tasks of receiving and classifying all male national inmates committed to the Bureau of Corrections by the competent courts. The RDC chief reports directly to the Director all the activities undertaken by RDC personnel.
The success of prison rehabilitation programs depends on how the RDC handles the orientation, diagnosis and treatment of newly arrived inmates. Every effort is made to determine an inmate’s strength as well as moral weaknesses, physical inadequacies, character disorders, and his educational, social and vocational needs. It is during the first sixty (60) days, during the initial contact between a prisoner and his new environment that primordial functions pertaining to his care and rehabilitation treatment are exhaustively carried out by the staff. At the end of the period, the inmate is ready for transfer to any of the penal institutions. He is expected to have overcome his fears and prejudices and is prepared to cooperate in the implementation of his rehabilitation program.
Being the initial stop of every national male prisoner, the RDC is constantly improving its rehabilitative programs. One such reform is the adoption of the behavioral modification modality. Originally a program for drug dependents, the RDC chief recognized the potential of applying its 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 erasing gang marks of all newly committed prisoners in an effort to eradicate the gang system within the Bureau. Later, then Director Dionisio Santiago entrusted the administration of the Muntinlupa Juvenile Training Center (MJTC) to the RDC through a memorandum dated June 18, 2005. Under a memorandum of Director Vicente G. Vinarao dated March 31, 2005, the RDC was given administrative control over all other RDCs of the Bureau of Corrections. The RDC has evolved into an institution that uses a modern positive approach towards penology.
|