Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 2) — Severely overcrowded, squalid, even inhumane for others.
This is state of the country’s jails, a year after President Rodrigo Duterte unleashed his war on crime, particularly illegal drugs.
At the Quezon City Jail, which can only house about 800 inmates, more than 2,700 people are forced to occupy almost every corner of the prison.
Some inmates who refused to speak on camera described their life inside the jail as “worse than hell.”
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) confirmed in a July 1 forum that the country’s jails are now the world’s most congested.
From 98,000 inmates a year ago, there are now about 142,000 inmates crammed in only 466 jails, representing a 583 percent congestion rate.
The BJMP said this overtakes Haiti’s 454 percent congestion rate, as recorded by a University of London study in 2016.
BJMP Chief Serafin Barretto said by the end of 2017, the country’s inmate population might reach 200,000, which is 10 times more than what the country’s jail facilities can handle.
“Ang atin pong jail ay sobrang sikip at kulang na kulang para sa ating mga inmates [Our jails are so congested and are really not enough for all our inmates],” he said.
Barretto, however, could not estimate up to how many more inmates the overcrowded jails could still accommodate.
Overcrowding of jails is one of the reasons for jail riots.
Barretto said they are also undermanned, with only 11,000 personnel. He said the agency needs 83,000 more.
“Sa totoo lang, dahil sa kakulangan namin ng personnel, may limitation ng resources,” he said. “Talagang nahihirapan kami. Hirap sa kalagayan ng mga personnel at saka warden doon.”
[Translation: To be honest, because of our lack of personnel, there is a limitation in resources. We are really having difficulty. It’s hard for the personnel and wardens in those jails.]
The BJMP is also seeking the help of Congress to double their budget from ₱11 billion to more than ₱20 billion to build more jails.
But Barretto said this is still not enough. He added that the number of prosecutors and judges in courts has to be increased to speed up resolution of cases.
“Kahit na padamihin ng padamihin natin ang jail buildings, patuloy pa ring dadami (ang inmates) at sisikip (ang mga kulungan) kasi ang bagal nga ng mga releases [Even if we build more and more jail buildings, more and more inmates will come and jails will become more congested because the release of prisoners is so slow],” he said.
