New Bilibid Prison

Prisoners of war at the New Bilibid and Luzon POW Camp Number 1

During World War II and the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, both the Old Bilibid and New Bilibid Prisons were used as Prisoner of War (POW) camps, hospitals for POWs, and transit centers for POWs being transferred to other locations, primarily to Japan. More than 13,000 POWs, the majority of them American, were processed at these Manila area facilities during the war.[6] Included in that total are 500 civilian internees who were moved to Bilibid from the Camp Holmes Internment Camp near Baguio in December 1944.[7] Thousands of POWs who transited Bilibid Prison en route to Japan were killed when the Hell ships on which they were being transported were sunk by American military aircraft or submarines, the Americans being unaware that POWs were on board the ships.[8]

The Old Bilibid prison continued to be used by the Japanese Kempeitai (military police) for holding special prisoners throughout their occupation of Manila and Luzon. General Vicente Lim was among those interned there.

The Battle of Manila began on February 3, 1945, and that evening the civilians in Old Bilibid Prison heard the unmistakable sound of American voices outside the walls. The American soldiers outside, however, seemed unaware of the prisoners inside Bilibid, but had the objective of liberating the 4,000 civilian internees at Santo Tomas Internment Camp two kilometers (one mile) away. The battle near the prison raged all that night, but the next morning the Japanese guards abandoned Bilibid, leaving a message to the POWs and internees that they should avoid leaving Bilibid, and posting a sign at the gate advising "Lawfully released Prisoners of War and internees are quartered here."[9]

The internees hoisted the American flag over Bilibid, but after an explosion nearby the departing Japanese came back to warn them that the flag would draw fire from Japanese artillery.[10] At 7 p.m. on that evening, February 4, 1945, American soldiers from the 37th Ohio National Guard broke through the wall into the compound.[11]

The liberated POWs and internees at Old Bilibid numbered 1,200, including 700 soldiers and 500 civilians. The civilian internees remained in Bilibid for another month until the Battle of Manila concluded with the Japanese defenders wiped out.[12] The internees were then flown to Leyte and from there they were repatriated to the United States. One of the civilian internees described the repatriation process as "being badgered by friends rather than the enemy." The former internees were infuriated at having to promise to pay the U.S. government $275 per person for repatriation. Many of the civilian internees, long-term residents of the Philippines or related to Filipinos, were reluctant to leave, but were pressured to do so by the U.S. military.[13][14]

From the end of World War II until 1953, Japanese war criminals were held within the prison, under Prison Superintendent Alfredo Bunye.[15]

The rise of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos saw the establishment of the Sampaguita Rehabilitation Center - later named Camp Sampaguita - within the NBP compound. It served both as the headquarters of the 225th Philippine Constabulary Company, and also as a stockade for Political Prisoners.[16] Sampaguita was the southernmost of four major clusters of concentration camps for political prisoners in the Greater Manila Area at the time, Sampaguita being the "S" in "A, B, C, and S" with the other letters representing Camps Aguinaldo ("A"), Bonifacio ("B"), and Crame ("C").[17]

On June 5, 2014, Department of Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, supervising official on the Bureau of Corrections and the NBP said that the National Penitentiary will be moved to Barangay San Isidro in Laur, Nueva Ecija.[18][19]

In 2022, it was announced that there are plans to relocate the medium and maximum security prisons to Occidental Mindoro and the minimum security inmates to Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.[20][21]

The execution chamber for inmates sentenced to death by electrocution was in Building 14, within the Maximum Security Compound. As of 2015, it is used to house maximum security prisoners. The former lethal injection chamber is now used as the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Museum.[24] Seven men were executed by lethal injection between 1999 and 2000.

Gluckman wrote that the men's death row in Building One, was uncharacteristic of the rest of the prison: "The place reeks of gas burners, sewage, sweat and fear."[23]

The prisoners pass the time in the basketball court in the penitentiary's gymnasium and are also engaged in the production of handicrafts. Various religious denominations are active in prison ministry, with Mass said daily in the prison's Roman Catholic chapel; a locale of the Iglesia Ni Cristo is also on the prison grounds. Religious groups, such as the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service, Caritas Manila, Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Amazing Grace Christian Ministries, also extend medical services to prisoners.[25] Research participants agree that the use of inmate leaders is an integral component of prison management in the MSC. Inmates can either assume custodial, administrative, and rehabilitation functions.[26]

Educational facilities inside the compound provide elementary education, high school education, vocational training and adult literacy programs. It also provides a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce.[25] The New Bilibid Prison also houses a talipapâ (small wet and flea market) where prisoners can buy daily commodities.[27]

On September 5, 1991, President Corazon C. Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation No. 792,[28] which was amended by Presidential Proclamation No. 120 on December 15, 1992,[29] to the effect that 104.22 hectares (257.5 acres) of land be developed into housing for employees of the Department of Justice and other government agencies. This housing project is known as the Katarungan ("Justice") Village.[30]