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Manila, Philippines – The coronavirus has reached Philippine prisons, notorious as the world’s busiest, raising fears that prisons will emerge as the epicenter of the virus in the Southeast Asian nation.
Over 300 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed among those behind bars, most in detention centers in Cebu, southern Philippines. At least four detainees have already died from the virus, while dozens of people who work in prisons have also tested positive for the virus.
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On Saturday, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Mario Victor Leonen told the media that some 10,000 inmates would be released in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the country’s detention centers. Detainees were released following a directive issued by the Supreme Court to release detainees before trial because they were unable to post bail, as well as certain elderly and sick prisoners and those whose sentence was six months or less.
The Philippines has the highest prison occupation in the world.
A brutal crackdown on illegal narcotics beginning in mid-2016 has added to the problem with more than 220,000 arrested.
Thousands more have been temporarily detained since March for violating quarantine protocols designed to curb the spread of COVID-19.
‘Waiting to die’
According to the Jail Administration and Penology Office (BJMP), the prison’s congestion rate is 534 percent. Global data shows that 215,000 people are detained in facilities intended to house approximately 41,000. About three-quarters of them are detained awaiting trial.
On March 20, the BJMP instituted a total blockade of its more than 400 facilities in a move to prevent the spread of infection.
“We are waiting to die here. I feel helpless, as if we are waiting for the virus to come after us,” a 61-year-old detainee told Al Jazeera by phone. In the background, another inmate could be heard coughing.
The 61-year-old man, who spoke on condition that his name and place of detention were not disclosed, had been transferred to another room due to his age, and the series of fevers and colds that he has been suffering since he was arrested in the beginning of the year.
The cell, for two, is occupied by 11 people, but it is better than they are used to. “It’s better than sleeping on the stairs, stacked on top of each other,” he said.
Facial masks have been distributed to all detainees, but many say it is uncomfortable to wear them in the stifling summer heat and in such tight spaces that it is impossible to walk two steps without bumping into someone else.
Even before COVID-19, authorities estimated that 5,000 people died each year at the Philippines’ main national penitentiary, known as Bilibid, mainly due to poor health conditions there.
Poor ventilation, inadequate sanitation and poor food quality, aggravated by overcrowding, contribute to the spread of infectious diseases in prisons, experts say.
Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed concern that COVID-19 was spreading more rapidly in detention centers and that prison deaths were not fully reported.
The inmates told HRW at the Cavite Provincial Jail, south of Manila, that four prisoners serving as medical assistants had brought the body of a Nigerian man in his 40s from prison with little medical protective equipment. The man was later found to have COVID-19.
“Only prison staff with full protective equipment can handle corpses,” said BJMP spokesman Xavier Solda.
The ICRC erected a temporary isolation unit in the new Quezon City Jail to help with the response to the coronavirus. [Supplied/ICRC]
Solda also said the claim that no deaths were reported is unlikely as authorities are mandated to inform family members if an inmate has died. “However, we will not take this claim lightly and will investigate further.”
“Instead of issuing denials and rebuttals, prison authorities should simply disclose information about suspicious deaths of people in their custody,” said Phil Robertson, HRW deputy director for Asia.
Little proof
Similarly, knowing the exact extent of transmission in incarceration facilities is hampered by a low level of evidence, a delay in publishing test results, and posthumous diagnosis of patients with suspected COVID-19.
The health department has come under intense scrutiny for its reluctance to implement mass testing. Bowing to public pressure after leaked documents showed that politicians were jumping the line to test themselves and their families, the government began an expanded testing program and aims to screen about 8,000 people a day.
The health department said it is working with prison authorities to implement “specific tests” in prisons.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has established quarantine facilities in selected prisons to isolate detainees with symptoms of COVID-19. The isolation areas can currently house around 500 patients, and the ICRC is working with the authorities to build more.
“The summer months will bring with them seasonal illnesses such as skin infections, diarrhea and the flu, which can further exacerbate the problem,” said Harry Tubangi, manager of the ICRC’s Health in Detention program.
Other countries such as Myanmar and Indonesia have already temporarily released prisoners to protect themselves against the spread of the virus. Last month, Iran released some 85,000 prisoners.
In the Philippines, the request for the release of some detainees has met with resistance.
“Congestion in prison facilities is not among the reasons for releasing inmates,” Attorney General José Cálida said last month.
Fides Lim, a spokesperson for KAPATID (Families and Friends of Political Prisoners), has been campaigning for the release of low-level criminals and political prisoners like her husband, Vincent Ladlad, 71.
Lim claims that her husband’s arrest in 2018 was based on politically motivated charges brought for her participation in peace negotiations with leftist groups.
“Prisons are a time bomb for COVID-19. Now we are seeing how it explodes little by little,” he said.
On April 15, the Supreme Court ordered the expedited release of prisoners qualified for parole and executive clemency.
Justice Department deputy secretary Markk Parete told Al Jazeera that 200 applications are currently being processed and may be decided in the coming days. Those approved must be quarantined for two weeks before being released.
Even before the arrival of COVID-19, authorities had reported thousands of deaths in Bilibid, the national penitentiary, attributed to overcrowding, poor diet and poor hygiene. [File: Francis R Malasig/EPA]
Arlene Pérez hopes that her daughter, Ge-Ann, will be among those released soon. Ge-Ann, 26, has leprosy and has been in custody since last year.
“He needs alcohol, soap and his medicines. I don’t know how he is getting it now,” said Perez, who last spoke to his daughter on March 8.
Social triage
Countries around the world are looking for a way to control the rate of COVID-19 infections amidst limited resources, and stretched health systems have turned to social triage, a classification of people to whom medical care should be given. .
Even those well prepared have lost some communities.
In Singapore, migrant workers living in dormitories were overlooked and after months of praise as a model for effective management of COVID-19, Singapore now has the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, primarily among migrant workers.
In the Philippines, Duterte has justified his notoriously bloody law enforcement policies by saying criminals “deserve to die.”
“After waves of rhetoric from President Duterte calling drug users less human, it is no surprise that the government is treating them so badly. It is outrageous and unacceptable that the government sees them as expendable,” said Robertson of HRW.
Raymund Narag, professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Southern Illinois, is an expert in Philippine jails as an academic and former detainee. Narag proved innocent and was later released after spending almost seven years behind bars.
“The only way to control the infection is to decongest the jails by releasing prisoners,” said Narag.
It is unclear whether the 10,000 released over the weekend have been tested. The health department had not responded to Al Jazeera’s query at the time of publication.
While Narag praises some measures that have been taken, such as preventing prison staff from going home with their families, which could expose them to the disease, he notes that even the best-watched prison is not impenetrable for the virus.
“If prisoners are not released, prisons will become the epicenter of the virus in the country,” said Narag.
