Re: The Filipinos they left behind

On Oct 28, 1:57 am, Joekerr <joeke...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It comes and goes yearly—the National Correctional Awareness Week—
without the Congress and the Executive announcing a new initiative to
reform the penal system and give thousands of inmates a second chance
in life.

Thousands of Filipinos congest city and municipal jails, provincial
prisons and the national penitentiary and its satellites in the
regions. The population thickens daily owing to growing crimes, the
harshness of the anti-drug law, the absence of alternatives to
imprisonment and lapses in the criminal justice system.

Most inmates suffer squalid conditions. They crowd jails that were
built decades ago to house a limited population but have not been
expanded or rebuilt to accommodate the fast-growing newcomers. In many
prisons in the big cities, including those in metropolitan Manila,
prisoners have to take turns sleeping. Congestion in local jails has
erupted in frequent violence.

Overcrowding breeds filth, disease and fetid air. Toilets are dirty
and private showers are unheard of. Gang rivalry and custodial neglect
are commonplace. When storm Ondoy struck, many of its victims were
prisoners who had to survive flooded cells.

Guess how much the government spends daily for prison food; about P40
for three meals a day.

Malnutrition is a scourge in many jails. To make up for the
insufficient, unappetizing food, the authorities have allowed families
to stay on prison compounds or bring food to their relatives.

Wardens in prisons maintained by the Bureau of Corrections (Bucor),
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), and provincial and
national governments say that given the scant budget and failure to
upgrade prisons, they have to cope and to improvise.

The Department of Justice which runs Bucor and the Department of the
Interior and Local Government which supervises the BJMP, have not done
enough to reform jails and improve the plight of the prisoners.

They also have to contend with a stingy Congress which has not
produced an advocate for penal reform and a spokesman for the
prisoners and their families.

A bright note is the work of the Supreme Court with its “Justice on
Wheels” program and the Public
Attorney’s Office (PAO) which seeks prisoners needing help, primarily
for their deserved freedom. The SC’s “Justice on Wheels” project has
enabled hundreds who are in jail for the wrong reasons or have served
their terms to secure their liberty. Both programs deserve recognition
and support.

Filipinos who are rightly or wrongly (think of the poor who cannot
post bail) in jail deserve better treatment. Those who have violated
the law must “pay” for their crime of course, but modern penology
focuses on training, education and preparation for a useful life after
prisons. Instead, current policy turns them into recidivists.

“A penological monstrosity” was the phrase used by a UN team that
visited metro jails in the 1990s. The leaders of the European Union in
Manila are aghast over prison conditions. “I am a human being!”
protested an inmate in a Nueva Ecija jail, “not an animal!” Prison
life in many jails has been described by inmates and penal reformers
as a “a living death.”

The Constitution is explicit on state policy for humane penology.
Section 19 (2) of the Bill of Rights provides: “The employment of
physical, psychological, or degrading punishment against any prisoner
or detainee, or the use of substandard or inadequate penal facilities
under subhuman conditions, shall be dealt with by law.” The State is a
lawbreaker in this instance.

Rehabilitation, not retribution, is necessary to humanize our prisons.
Prisoners deserve support and care from the government, the Church,
business and civil society. They are being left out of the system and
mainstream. They are the Filipinos society has left behind.

You say, "Filipinos who are rightly or wrongly (think of the poor who
cannot post bail) in jail deserve better treatment" I think that would
be better (and more correctly) said as "Persons jailed deserve humane
treatment." Remember that Article III Section 1 of the RP constitution
says, "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property
without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal
protection of the laws." That speaks of the right of all persons to
equal protection. Equal protection is not exclusively for Filipinos
(in theory, anyhow).

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: American prisoners hit world record
    ... WASHINGTON -- Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates each ... Our potheads are put in jail cells, while Chinese potheads ...
    (soc.culture.china)
  • The Filipinos they left behind
    ... Thousands of Filipinos congest city and municipal jails, ... prisons in the big cities, including those in metropolitan Manila, ... enough to reform jails and improve the plight of the prisoners. ... post bail) in jail deserve better treatment. ...
    (soc.culture.filipino)
  • Re: OT - I may be in the minority
    ... We are already the only western nation whose jails and prisons don't ... of a deterrent for them. ... generally translates into doing a life sentence in installments. ...
    (sci.med.transcription)
  • Re: OT - I may be in the minority
    ... We are already the only western nation whose jails and prisons don't ... of a deterrent for them. ... generally translates into doing a life sentence in installments. ...
    (sci.med.transcription)