Jinggoy allowed to stay at Crame jail

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Jinggoy Estrada will remain detained in Camp Crame.

The Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division chaired by Associate Justice Roland Jurado dismissed yesterday the prosecution’s motion to transfer Estrada to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

The prosecution’s motion  lacks merit, the anti-graft court added.

Prosecutors said Estrada must be detained in a regular jail facility. He must not be accorded special treatment, considering that Janet Lim-Napoles and Jessica “Gigi” Reyes are detained in Camp Bagong Diwa, they added.

However, the Fifth Division said a high-profile inmate would face security risks in an ordinary and overcrowded jail facility.

“The (proposed detention facility) houses detainees almost twice, thrice or four times its ideal capacity – a situation which is no longer conducive to the physical well being of detainees,” read the anti-graft court’s decision. “To hold the senator in the aforesaid facilities would be in blatant disregard of the guaranteed rights of a detention prisoner.” 

During hearings on the motion, BJMP officials said they cannot fully guarantee the safety and security of high-risk inmates in overcrowded jails.

The First Division chaired by Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz had also denied a similar motion of the prosecution against Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., who is also detained in Camp Crame.