JAIL MANAGEMENT SEMINAR ADVANCES LAW ENFORCEMENT

UNCLAS MANILA 001944 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MTS, S/CT/CHANDLER, INR/EAP/SEA, STATE FOR INL/C/CP, AND INL/AAE/PRAHAR/FLOOD/KAPOYOS STATE FOR DS/DSS/ATA, DS/IP/EAP, DS/IP/EAP JAKARTA FOR ICITAP/HARDGROVE BANGKOK FOR ILEA DOJ FOR ICITAP DEA FOR A/AD/OI/OE/OIE/OEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER KCRM KJUS PREL KCOR PGOV PINS ASEC RP SUBJECT: JAIL MANAGEMENT SEMINAR ADVANCES LAW ENFORCEMENT REFORM EFFORTS REF: A. MANILA 1595 ¶B. MANILA 1587 ¶C. MANILA 1075 ¶D. 05 MANILA 5373 ¶E. 05 MANILA 3338 ¶1. (U) Summary. A week-long S/CT-funded seminar on Advanced Jail Management that concluded on April 28 was a crucial effort in Mission's support of law enforcement reform in the Philippines in general and of the Philippine National Police's ongoing Transformation Project in particular. ¶2. (U) In 2005, an INL-led assessment of Philippine law enforcement (ref E) concluded that jail management was one area in which the U.S. could make an important difference in the Philippines, and an advanced management seminar was a necessary first step. The PNP's transformation program, inaugurated shortly after the INL assessment and in part as a response to it, also stressed jail management. ¶3. (U) The participants in the April seminar were leading officers with detention responsibilities, including wardens and senior management officials, at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP),PNP, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The seminar, which S/CT funded, was led by two ICITAP instructors, Michael Cooksey and Charles Ryan. ¶4. (U) The Advanced Jail Management seminar also allowed Mission to continue its use of law enforcement reform efforts as a vehicle for supporting human rights issues. In November 2005, Mission sponsored an Anti-Trafficking in Persons seminar, which USAID funded, for officers of the PNP's Women and Children Concerns Division, linking our law enforcement and human rights efforts (ref D). By engaging the DSWD, which is responsible for juvenile detention, as part of this seminar, Mission was able to use these reform efforts in a similar fashion, highlighting our ongoing human rights concerns for children in jail in the Philippines (refs A-C). ¶5. (U) The seminar participants and leaders also identified possible next steps in our engagement with jail reform, for which we will seek INL funding. These include: the installation of an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) at the BJMP; the installation of prisoner-tracking software similar to that being used now in Iraq; crisis-response training; and, a seminar dedicated to updating the BJMP Operations Manual. Our efforts have also stimulated interest from the Australian, Canadian, and U.K. Missions, which are potential partners in some of these future projects. Kenney