Some 600 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) are benefiting from a new library inside the Negros Occidental District Jail-Male Dormitory (NODJ-MD) based in Bago City.

The NOJD-MD collaborated with the Negros Occidental Provincial Library to set up the learning hub, which was launched on March 25, as a tool to empower the PDLs through knowledge and transform their lives while in detention.

Provincial Librarian II Rio Lynne Panisa said on Monday the NODJ-MD led by acting warden, Chief Insp. Alexander Sy, reached out to them in February for assistance in establishing a jail library.

“It took us about a month to do the preparations. We also conducted a book donation drive. We helped them design the jail library. We conducted an orientation for the PDLs on how to use the library and for the personnel on how to manage it,” Panisa told the Philippine News Agency.

She said they have collected about 1,000 donated books and other reading materials for the NODJ Library.

As a learning hub, the jail library supplements the education of more than 100 PDLs enrolled in the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System and those studying under the College Education Behind Bars, a literacy program of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

Visiting family members of PDLs, including their children who want to read books, can also join them in the library.

Panisa said the Provincial Library worked together with Sy, along with jail officers Edsel Bandola and Vincent Neil Villasis, who expressed commitment to rehabilitation and education within the correctional system through the establishment of the jail library.

Also in March, the Provincial Library partnered with the BJMP-Talisay City Jail headed by Chief Insp. Elvin Tagaytayan in establishing a library inside the jail together with the Talisay City Public Library.

The Talisay City Jail library, which was inaugurated on March 11, supports the educational and rehabilitative needs of about 200 PDLs. (PNA)