'Degrading' jail conditions belie Duterte's impressions

MANILA, Philippines — Jail conditions in the country are “inhuman and degrading” contrary to President Rodrigo Duterte’s impression that situations in prison are “okay,” human rights group Karapatan said Wednesday.

“Prisoners are neither okay nor comfortable,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said in a statement. “There is nothing to be happy about compounding the degrading and inhuman situation already endured by prisoners.”

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday expressed satisfaction over the situation of jails in the country handled by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology despite a Commission on Audit report in June this year showing that the detention centers are teeming with detainees.

In this Oct. 18, 2017 photo, President Rodrigo Duterte talks to the inmates during his visit to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. PPD/Robinson Niñal

“I was looking at the situation of our prisons, and I think they are okay and I'm happy,” Duterte said in a mix of English and Filipino during his visit to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

The chief executive added: “The situation is okay. They [prisoners] are comfortable, clean. I'm satisfied by the way it is being run by the BJMP.”

Palabay noted that under Duterte’s administration, two political prisoners have already died because of the “grave conditions behind bars,” along with scores of ordinary inmates.

BJMP director Serafin Barretto said that each prisoner has an allocated budget of P10 a day for medicine and P60 for food, which Palabay described an amount "insufficient in providing quality and decent meals and at times subject of corruption by jail officials."

The BJMP currently has a budget of P11.6 billion. 

READ: Despite teeming jails, Duterte 'happy' with Philippine prisons

COA report, BJMP assessment

Duterte’s assessment was in contrast to the COA report released in June, which painted the dire situation of the country’s detention facilities.

According to COA, the country’s jails are already overpopulated by 511 percent as the number of inmates ballooned to 126,946 as of the end of 2016.

It has already exceeded the ideal total jail capacity, which remains at 20,746 inmates.

In April, Barretto admitted that the jail facilities in the country can be considered as the most congested in the world.

The overcrowding of jails is mainly attributed to the increase in the number of drug-related cases in the country as well as the slow or non-action of courts on pending cases.

Many of the detainees qualified for bail remain also incarcerated due to poverty, the COA noted.

READ: Philippine jails 511% congested, audit finds, BJMP chief: Phl jails world’s most congested

Double standard behind bars

The Karapatan secretary general said that political prisoners endure injustice because the condition of prisons is aggravated by the continued political repression inside jails.

“Political prisoners considered as ‘high risk’ have their rights severely curtailed. Their involvement in advocacies has already been criminalized, and even their movements inside jails are oftentimes under surveillance,” she said.

Palabay, moreover, noted that there is a double standard even in prison, where the rich and the powerful inmates are accorded privileges that spare them from the harsh conditions behind bars.

“It is outrageous to see plunderers and politicians being allowed to post bail after months in air-conditioned rooms, while majority have to scramble like sardines in hot, unventilated spaces for years,” she said.

Palabay added: “We echo the recommendations forwarded by political prisoners, and continue to push the Duterte regime for their immediate release. There is no comfort nor reprieve in being jailed for your political beliefs and for crimes you are innocent of, only injustice.”