A party-list legislator on Friday said recovery plans after the COVID-19 pandemic should include the expansion of existing prison facilities, “or better yet, the construction of new ones in order to address the awful congestion in the jails.”
CIBAC Rep. Eduardo Villanueva aired the proposal following the reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections in the Quezon City and Cebu City jails last week.
The COVID-19 infections were blamed on overcrowding in the said facilities where social distancing is hard, if not impossible, to be implemented.
“CIBAC hopes that the government will include in its COVID-19 recovery plan or in its FY 2021 National Expenditure Program, at the very least, a sizeable budgetary allocation that will significantly improve the conditions of jails. Especially that a ‘new normal’ in the conduct of living which includes social distancing and strict adherence to proper hygiene is expected to be observed at all facets of communal living,” said Villanueva who was detained at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa during the imposition of martial law by the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
“Decongestion of detention facilities is a must to make sure jails will not be hotbeds or epicenters of infections and detainees and prisoners will be protected from contracting COVID-19 or any communicable disease,” he added.
“The problem of our terribly crammed jails is an overdue assignment on the government. As of 2019, penal facilities under either the Bureau of Corrections or the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology have an average overcrowding rate of not less than 300 percent. With or without the COVID-19 health emergency situation but more so now that we are in the midst of a pandemic where social distancing is key to survival, this problem deserves no less than the serious attention and funding plan of the government,” Villanueva, a deputy speaker, said.
Latest data from the BuCor show that the seven penal farm under it have an average congestion rate of 314 percent, meaning a facility houses inmates three-times its capacity.
Among the most jampacked are the New Bilibid Prison with 353 percent congestion rate, Mindanao Correctional Institute for Women (CIW-Mindanao) and Davao Prison and Penal Farm which has congestion rates of 467 percent and 388 percent, respectively. The BuCor-supervised prisons are for those sentenced to serve 3-year imprisonment or more.
On the other hand, BJMP Director Allan Iral said that as of December 2019, the 467 town, city and district jails under its supervision nationwide have an average congestion rate of 438 percent. BJMP-supervised jails house inmates sentenced to less than 3-year imprisonment and those awaiting decision from the courts.
“Though they are offenders of laws and must be penalized according to our justice system, life for our PDLs is not yet over and there is always the ever-present opportunity for change. Yes, they are deprived of liberty but they must not be denied of dignity and right to health, sanitation and humane environment,” Villanueva added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health, together with the Department of Justice, World Health Organization, and International Committee of the Red Cross conducted an initial assessment, investigation, and management of cases at the Correc tional Institution for Women-Bureau of Corrections and New Bilibid Prison.
The assessment marks the start of the ongoing coordination with the Bureau of Corrections and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to conduct targeted testing, provide treatment and management of cases, and ensure that infection control measures are in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in penal and correctional facilities.
Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III assured that the DOH is also closely working with the ICRC in building isolation facilities for probable and suspect cases inside the New Bilibid Prison.
Duque said ICRC has installed a 110-bed capacity quarantine facility in the medium-security New Bilibid Prison.
He said multi-disciplinary technical support has likewise been supplied to the Correctional Institute for Women as an emergency response to its confirmed cases detected recently.
Meanwhile, the ICRC also assisted the BJMP and BuCor in setting up temporary isolation centers for COVID-19 positive detainees with mild to moderate symptoms.
A 48-bed quarantine facility in the Quezon City Jail in Payatas is now fully operational with 40 admitted detainees. It is being expanded to 200 beds and will open shortly in collaboration with BJMP.
Also, work is ongoing at the New San Fernando District Jail with a 40-bed quarantine facility and the Quezon District Jail in Pagbilao, Lucena City with an 80-bed quarantine facility.
The said isolation centers were set up with separate areas for patients and sleeping quarters for staff, electricity, water, cots, and basic furnishings.
The staff were also furnished with medical equipment, personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, and tablet devices to facilitate contact between patients and their relatives.
Training on infection prevention and control and management of the dead, based on DOH and WHO guidelines, were also provided. DOH is currently working with ICRC to assist BJMP and BUCOR to develop guidelines on the control, management and prevention of COVID 19 in places of detention.
Aside from penal institutions, the DOH and WHO, along with the Department of Social Welfare and Development will focus on other closed-setting facilities such as orphanages and homes for the aged to ensure its safety.
“Multi-sectoral efforts are ramped up to support all vulnerable areas to stem this pandemic. Inallclosed-setting facilities,a single case of an asymptomatic positive COVID19 case can be a disaster,” Duque added.