BILIBID.
As we are going to press, there comes to hand a little pamphlet describing the industries and production of Bilibid.
Why not send our wardens who desire to do things to Bilibid? Perhaps, it would be better to send our legislators, who after observing the practical achievements of Bilibid may be induced to authorize our wardens to inaugurate a sound industrial policy.
Where is Bilibid? Take the train for San Francisco, engage passage on some leviathan of the deep and get off probably at the second station which is Manila. Thence it is a short excursion to Bilibid, a trip taken by twenty thousand visitors in a single year, not to mention those who take involuntary trips thither.
Forty buildings, seventeen acres of ground, plan of main building like Eastern Penitentiary, one of the best ever constructed if we consider continual inspection as an essential factor. 2800 prisoners there; as many others in prisons elsewhere in the islands but all co-ordinated under a central administration.
The great aim is to prepare the inmates for “honorable position in the community upon their release.”
The men work and play. We enumerate some of the industries.
- Manufacture and repair of carriages, wagons, carts, trucks, trailers, etc.
- Household and Office Furniture made of mahogany and other native beautiful woods.
- Concrete work, construction of buildings.
- Rattan and bamboo furniture. The famous fan-back chair.
- Hand-wrought articles in silver, gold and other metals; shell-work, horn specialties.
- Tailoring. Service uniforms.
- Steam laundry. All the work for the inside and a “considerable civilian trade.”
- Embroidery, lace making, crochet organized for the female department.
| Output per annum | $350,000 | |
| Profit for the government | 100,000 |
There are two penal colonies on large tracts of land, on one of which the 1200 colonists practically have a government of their own.
The San Remon Farm is where the non-Christian convicts from Moroland are confined. These war-like people have admirable qualities when treated properly, and three-fourths of the inmates are at work on the extensive farm without the presence of an armed guard. Here is found the model prison of the Orient. “Built of reinforced concrete, with grilled walls, dormitories, shower baths, and with every modern feature for the comfort, health and reformation of prisoners confined there, it has proved a wonderful educational institution for the Moro.” The entire credit for this building and the admirable system is due to the genius and sagacity of the former governor, General John J. Pershing.