IMPRISONMENT: EFFECT TO THE SOCIAL CONDTIONS OF INMATES IN BJMP IN SANTA CRUZ, LAGUNA

A Thesis

Presented to

The Faculty of the College of Criminology

Union College

Santa Cruz, Laguna

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science in Criminology

By

EDWARD BRIONES SERAFICO

September 2014

Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

Society in the local and global scales has always given stigma to incarcerated persons

who had been jailed for a considerable number of years and condemnation is eminent even

they had suffered and served their sentence for release and rejoin with their respective family

members sooner or later. Apparently, the effect of their incarceration carries the social scars

due to the horrible wounds inflicted upon their entire being causing them decadence and loss

of credibility prior and subsequent to their release. Toward this end, the prison cell is the living

graveyard among inmates as they are hoping against hope to live a life anew once released

from the steel walls of jail. But somehow, due judicial consideration, justice delayed is justice

denied is the name of the game.

As disclosed by Dr. Mckune (2013), Assistant Director of the Division of Mental Health

and Substance Abuse for Kentucky’s Department of Corrections, “the number of men and

women behind bars is growing in fastest rates, and once they are released, they won’t be

coming back, and this can be done only to refocus on mental health services by concentrating

on helping them to prepare life after prison. Among others, programs for life after

imprisonment would be housing, health services, employment, and re-establish positive

relationships with family members and friends after their release from jail.”

In the local scenery, President Aquino (2014) recounted how his father, the late Ninoy

suffered for seven years in jail during the Marcos administration. However, his father was lucky

enough to have been released due to sickness, and ultimately sought medication in Boston, but

however, in his return to his beloved homeland, he had made his last trip to the great beyond

when he was murdered at tarmac at Manila International Airport, and nowhere the

mastermind could had been identified even at this point in time.

Based on the above premise, it was therefore imperative for the researchers to conduct

a study on imprisonment and its effect to the social list of inmates at BJMP in Santa Cruz,

Laguna, in the hope that the findings of this study would be of great value to prison authorities,

released inmates, families, and future researchers.

Background of the Study

This study is an analysis of the imprisonment and its significant effect on selected

incarcerated persons relative to their social conditions at Bureau of Jail Management and

Penologyin Santa Cruz, Laguna.

The rationale behind the selection of the said jail is anchored on the accessibility to the

dwelling places of the researchers and with utmost consideration to the financial and

timeframe constraints during the actual gathering of data.

Theoretical Framework

Summarized theories are drawn hereunder as these helped the present researchers in

farming out relevant citations for the resolutions of their basic problem areas propounded in

the study.

In the theory shared by Burrington (2011), the life of inmates in jail is a blunder to the

maintenance of credibility in the community, as well as building self-confidence and creating

opportunities while behind the steel walls in preparation for their exit from the living grave yard

to live a life anew in the respective communities where they originally dwelled.

A parallel theory has been pronounced by Deming (2011) that imprisonment of selected

inmates subsequent to their release, created social stigmas of character assassinationdue to

their status as ex-convicts, as well as profound effects on family unity and stability with

neighborhoods in the respective dwelling places they used to live before.

Niched on the above theories, the present researchers were indeed placed on the

proper position to see in their study the framework which served as the resolute guide to elicit

basic problem areas investigated.

Conceptual Framework

A research paradigm as shown in Figure 1 served as guide for the present researchers to

resolve their problem areas investigated with lesser difficulty.

In Frame 1, this includes the independent variables serving as input or load relative to

the demographic profile of inmates in terms of gender, age, civil status, educational attainment,

offense committed, and length of years sentenced.

As shown in Frame 2, these are intervening variables fused as throughput, the

transformation process in transforming input into output on how extensive are the programs of

BJMP delivered to the inmates while in jail as to education and livelihood.

Independent Variables Intervening Variables Dependent Variables

Input Throughput Output

Demographic Profile BJMP Programs Enhancement of Inmates’

Social Conditions

.gender .education. social control

. age . livelihood . social mobility

. civil status Frame 2 Frame 3

. educational attainment

. offense committed

.length of years sentenced

Frame 1

Figure 1: Research Paradigm

In Frame 3, this has bearing on the degree of effects of the programs of BJMP to

enhance the social conditions of inmates as dependent variables classified as output or

outcome with respect to social control and social mobility.

There is a strong linkage between and among the independent, intervening and

dependent variables, as there are defects in the input, the throughput is paralyzed hence it

cannot convert the former into a better output. In other words, the degree of criminal offenses

made by the respondents lingered them to suffer from considerable number of years in jail, and

therefore, without educational and livelihood programs delivered by the BJMP, no amount to

enhance their social conditions for enjoyment ofsocial control and social mobility in the free

society subsequent to their release.

Statement of the Problem

This study is focused on the imprisonment and its effects tothe social conditions of

inmates in BJMP in Santa Cruz, Laguna.

Specifically, it seeks answers to the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of inmates in terms of:

1.1.gender,

1.2.age,

1.3.civil status,

1.4.educational attainment,

1.5.offense committed, and

1.6.length of years sentenced?

2. How extensive are the programs of BJMP delivered to the inmates as to:

2.1. education, and

2.2. livelihood?

3. What is the degree of effects of the programs of BJMP to enhance the social

conditions of inmates with respect to:

3.1.social control, and

3.2.social mobility?

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses drawn in null and working forms served as basis for

acceptance or rejection at five percent (5) level of significance.

Null (Ho1-3) – There is no significant difference in the personal profile of inmates, the

extensiveness of the programs of BJMP delivered to them, and no degree of effects to the

enhancement of their social conditions.

Working (H1-3) – The higher is the personal profile of inmates, the more extensive are

the programs delivered to them by the BJMP, and the greater is the degree of effects to the

enhancement of their social conditions.

Therefore, it is certainly confirmed that there is a strong linkage between the null and

working hypotheses for simple reason that the rejection of the former, simultaneously supports

the latter. At this point, the rejection or support to the null or working hypothesis respectively,

would be the basis for valid findings and reliable conclusions as basis for viable

recommendations.

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are hereby advanced for realization:

1. To determine the personal profile of inmates in terms of gender, age, civil status,

educational attainment, offense committed, and length of years sentenced;

2. To evaluate the extensiveness of the programs delivered by BJMP to the inmates

while in jail with respect to education and livelihood; and

3. To analyze the degree of effects of the programs of BJMP in enhancing the social

conditions of inmates with respect to social control and social mobility.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

The coverage of this study is to look deeper into the imprisonment of inmates and its

effects on their social conditions at BJMP in Santa Cruz, Laguna within research timeframe from

2014 to 2015.

It is limited to the three (3) areas of investigation, namely: 1.) the demographic profile of

inmates in terms of gender, age, civil status, educational attainment, offense committed, and

length of years sentenced; 2.) the extensiveness of the programs of BJMP delivered to the

inmates as to education and livelihood; and 3.) the degree of effects of the programs of BJMP in

enhancing the social conditions of inmates with respect to social control and social mobility.

It is limited further to the employment of descriptive method of research in gathering

and treating the data for the said problem areas with the use of one (1) set of locally

constructed questionnaire with five-scale of alternative answers and subsequently distributed

to the randomized respondents.

Importance of the Study

The findings of this study are of great value to the following sectors:

BJMP Authorities.They will examine the strengths and weaknesses of their programs in

terms of education and livelihood delivered to the inmatesand thus overhaul and streamline

the same to fully enhance the social conditions with respect to social control and social mobility

within and outside the steel walls of the prison cell.

Inmates.They will be benefited of the educational and livelihood programs delivered to

them by the BJMP while in jail geared toward enhancement of their social conditions for the

enjoyment of social control and social mobility upon their release.

Future Researchers. The findings of this study would serve as data bank for future

researchers, particularly BS Criminology, Law, Sociology and Psychology students, who wish to

pursue researches of similar in nature in order to strengthen further the results of this present

investigation.

Definition of Terms

For a clearer understanding of this study, the following terms are operationally defined:

BJMP. This is the acronym for Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Santa Cruz,

Laguna as venue of the study.

Demographic Profile. This has bearing on the individual characteristics of inmates in

terms of gender, age, civil status, educational attainment, offense committed, and length of

years sentenced.

Education. An educational program in formal and non-formal settings,delivered by the

BJMP to inmates to develop and enhance in them theoretical knowledge and practical skills in

preparation for them to live a life anew with their family members upon release from jail.

Effect. This is the result of the BJMP programs delivered to inmates in enhancing their

social conditions within the jail and even upon their release sooner or later, as they rejoin their

family members.

Imprisonment. Confinement of persons in jail due to their offenses they had committed

by virtue of competent court decisions for conviction or simply awaiting trial as in the case of

inmates who are the actual respondents of this study.

Livelihood. It is a program delivered by BJMP to inmates while in jail as means of

support within, and even upon their release for survival.

Social Conditions. A pleasant companionship among inmates as a result of viable

programs delivered by BJMP in the development and enhancement of their social control and

social mobility within the jail in preparation for their release in order to live a life anew with

their respective family members in the community.

Social Control.It is the sum total of the instrumentalities, such as: sanction, norms,

rituals, cultural heritage, and role assignment, which maintains and repairs a certain balance in

terms of entry and exit in a social system.

Social Mobility.This refers to a change of position of individual within a social structure

of a socio-cultural system, such the case of inmates who are reformed in jail are given pardon

or granted parole for their temporary liberty in the respective communities where they

originally came from.

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES AND STUDIES

Summarized literatures and studies are reviewed hereunder as these were found with

closed similarity and significant bearing to the present study. Their inclusion served as basis for

designing a conceptual frame of reference in which this study is premised for the present

researchers to resolve their basic problem areas with lesser difficulty.

Related Literatures

Foreign

As propounded by Morris (2012), the modern prison is basically enmeshed in crisis of

identity. A prison was onced unquestionably an institution geared for punishment, custody,

and control. But penologists have been striving to meet a new concept and goal of treatment

and rehabilitation. The prison is a ghetto for its inmates. Within its walls it confines, houses,

feeds, clothes, educates, and polices its population. It compresses into its minuscule territory

many of the tormenting problems of an urban society, such as: overcrowing, poverty, violence,

racial friction, and a pervasive sense of alienation and despair.

Glasser (2013) in his bibliographic citation supportive of the above viewpoint, conceived

that the typical prison often called a penitentiary, is a large institution surrounded by a high

wall or fence and designed to confine adult criminals who have been convicted of felonies or

serious misdemeanors. Consistent with their basic functions, prisons are usually classified as:1.)

maximum security, identifiable as such by the walls and towers for armed guards as well as the

restrictive rules for the control of the inmates; 2.) the medium security which substitutes a

fence for the walls and towers and tolerate a more permissive code of behavior; and 3.)

minimum security which eliminates walls and fences and euphemistically termed open

institutions.

Within the sphere of the foregoing contexts, Fox (2011) viewpoint has direct bearing

with the above literatures when he strongly confirmed that a jail is a smaller local correctional

facility that receives short-term prisoners convicted of minor offenses. It often

servesadditionally as a place of detention for persons accused of crime and awaiting trial.

Correctional institutions for juveniles, if they accept only the very young juvenile delinquents,

are designated as either training schools or home for boys or girls.

Local

In the local scenary, Padilla (2014) upon commenting on the retroactive effect of a

revised illegal possession of firearms law in which he was convicted for six-year sentence, has

this to say that “life of a prisoner in the New Bilibid Prison is of enormous difficulty in coping

with the prison regime along problems on identity loss, identity construction, and identity

maintenance once release for a new life in the community. He went on by saying that like the

counterparts outside the prison walls, elderly prisoners suffer from a variety of age-related

health problems, including poor mobility, impaired vision and hearing and depression.

Abelgas (2014) in his follow-up documentary report disclosed that a life of prisoners

convicted of “reclusion perpetua” or life imprisonment due to rape and murder, can be

devastating in their late years as these can have profound effects on family unity and stability.

By all means, this is especially true for those whose offence arose within the family setting or is

felt as shameful by other family members as in the case of many sex offenders. At this

juncture, sex offenders lost hope to live a better life in the community where they belong due

to stigmas of character such as nonce, rapist and murderer attached to their names by their

neighborhood.

By all meansTaberna (2014) who claimed that affluent offenders live a luxurious life

while in prison as compared to those poverty stricken prisoners who were released upon

serving their sentence for long years in jail, and thus no hope to live a good life upon their

return to their respective communities.

The foregoing citations of foreign and local origins, possibly guided the present

researchers uproot the unexplored areas of investigation which by all means suggested avenues

of approach to the solution of similar difficulty relative tothe imprisonment and its effect on the

social conditions of inmates in BJMP in Santa Cruz, Laguna.

Related Studies

Foreign

In the study made byButtler(2009) on the psychological impact of imprisonment on the

physical and emotional conditions of inmates in Idaho country jail, revealed that such impact

can be felt among prisoners within the jail and even they were released in their elderly years as

the incarceration duration has been found devastating on their family unity and solidarity in the

respective communities as their permanent dwelling place prior to competent court convictions

of the crimes they had committed.

A parallel study was launched by Chappell (2010) on imprisonment and its effect on

inmates’ sojourn in jail in Idaho revealed among others that those who were convicted at the

young age and released at the elderly age, signified report that offenders who had served their

sentence and apparently were granted parole, were too old to start life anew for simple reason

of a short span of years of their stay in the respective communities they used to reside prior to

locking them behind bars by police authorities while awaiting conviction by proper court

authorities.

A collateral study was initiated by Hattery (2012) on the life in prison among middle

adulthood inmates in selected county jails in Chicago. He employed a field research in order to

gather and treat the data for the resolution of the problem areas propounded. Among others,

his findings revealed that strict discipline was rigidly held under no circumstances should

prisoners ever communicate with each other. As a result, a high rate of insanity among inmates

as caused by the lack of social intercourse among themselves inside the jail.

Local

In the local scenery, Marfori, et. al. (2014) conducted a study on the effectiveness of

correctional education program in San Pablo District Jail. A descriptive method of research was

employed for this purpose utilizing purposive sampling technique for equal representation of

the target respondents. Their findings revealed that educational program developed and

enhanced the theoretical knowledge and practical skills of inmates in preparation for their life

anew in the community upon their release.

Pamatmat (2014) spearheaded a study on the effects of facilities of BJMP on the health

status of inmates in Laguna Province, utilizing a descriptive design with the issuance of one set

of locally constructed questionnaire with five-Likert scale of optional answers. Among others,

his findings revealed that psychological facilities of BJMP affected the emotional and social

aspects of inmates as they were concern of their family members back home, and their close

associations with their fellow inmates in the said jail.

In the study made by Guisando, et. al. (2014) on the effects of incarceration of persons

in BJMP on their families in Santa Cruz and the adjacent municipalities in Laguna utilizing

descriptive survey method with the employment of structured interviews for gathering and

treating the data for this purpose. Among others, their findings revealed that the basic

household needs of the families were greatly affected, including the nutritional and educational

needs of children of inmates at the said provincial jail.

At this point, though the foregoing studies are not exactly identical with the present

study in terms of venue and timeframe, but both are collateral with one another with respect

to the basic problem areas investigated along the demographic profile of inmates, the

extensiveness of the programs of BJMP delivered to them, and the degree of effects of the said

programs in enhancing the social conditions of inmates in Santa Cruz, Laguna.

Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This portion gives careful consideration on the research design, population and sampling

technique, research instrument, data gathering procedure and statistical treatment of data in

order to elicit answers to the basic problems advanced in Chapter 1 of this study.

Research Design

The researcher employed the descriptive method in gathering and treating the

information and data for the forgoing areas of investigation.

As disclosed by Meyer (2010), descriptive method deals with a situation demanding

various techniques of data gathering, such as: on-the-spot observations, structured interviews

and questionnaires which eventually under the option of the researcher at the time the process

of investigation is made.

Prior to the actual gathering of data, the researcher studied carefully the population

parameter, knowing the fact that the data in descriptive method are susceptible to distortion

through introduction of bias into the research design.

And thus, in order to safeguard the data from distortion, particular attention was made

by the researcher in ensuring the discreteness of the population parameter representing female

workers in Pagsanjan, Laguna; and the data were organized and systematically presented so

that valid and accurate conclusions were drawn from them.

Population and Sampling Technique

Systematic sampling technique was used in the selection of sample representing the

female workers in Pagsanjan, Laguna from the population parameter of one-hundred fifty (150)

in order to come up into fifty (50) as the actual respondents of this study.

As cited by Wandelt (2011), systematic sampling technique is the most practical way in

the selection of the actual sample by just simply assigning even or odd scheme of numbers to

the target population parameter, and then systematically distribute and retrieve the

questionnaire during the actual gathering of data.

Research Instrument

Only one set of questionnaire was issued to the actual respondents of this study. For

objectivity, relevance, and suitability to the main problem along violence against women and its

effect to the female workers in the said municipality, the items in the major instrument were

based on the sequence of the basic questions raisedin the study.

The tentative draft of the questionnaire was submitted to the thesis adviser for

judgmental validation and subsequently submitted to the Panel of Experts during the pre-oral

defense in order to improve further organization and contents of the said instrument.

The improved draft was then tried out on five (5) dry-run subjects who were not

included as actual respondents of this study, wherein their responses were statistically treated

using the Spearman (Rho) formula in order to ensure the validity and reliability of the said

instrument.

And thus, with the Rho value of one (1), the major instrument was then declared as

valid and reliable.

In order to make the questionnaire simple by avoiding guesswork and assured one-

hundred percent (100%) responses from the said respondents, five-Likert scale of optional

answers was reflected.

The scale with equivalent range of weights and verbal interpretation is given below:

Scale Weight Verbal Interpretation

5 4.21-5.00 Always

4 3.41-4.20 Often

3 2.61-4.40 Sometimes

2 1.81-2.60 Seldom

1 1.00-1.80 Never

Data Gathering Procedure

As there was approval by the thesis adviser to conduct an actual gathering of data,

letters of request addressed to the different business establishments in Pagsanjan, Laguna were

prepared requesting permission to issue one set of questionnaire to their female workers. The

contents of the said letters of request were done with utmost humility and courtesy, as well as

assurance of the observance of strict confidentiality of the information and data gathered from

the said workers.

The distribution and retrieval of one set of questionnaire were done personally by the

researcher in order to clarify questions which were found highly technical in nature by the

actual respondents.

Statistical Treatment of Data

The responses of the actual respondents were tallied and tabulated in order to produce

the frequencies and equivalent percentages as basis for application of the following formulas:

Weighted mean formula was designed to determine the weight as basis for centrality of

the responses wherein verbal interpretation was reflected.

WM=Esf

N

Where:

WM=weighted mean

Esf=sum of scale and frequency

N=number of cases

Standard deviation formula intended to know the variability or spread of data around

the mean.

SD=V Ex 2

N

Where:

SD=standard deviation

Ex2=sum of deviations

N=number of cases

T-test formula for samples of equal size designed to know the effect of violence against

women particularly, the female workers, as basis for acceptance or rejection of the null

hypothesis at five percent (5%) level of significance.

T= M1 – M2

VEX12 +EX 2

2

N1(N2-1)

Where:

T=t-test

M1=mean of the first sample

M2=mean of the second sample

EX12 and EX2

2=sum of deviations of the first and second samples

N1 and N2=number of cases of the first and second samples

For speed and accuracy of the statistical computations, the responses of the said

respondents were computerized in order to produce the data matrix.