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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Virus outbreak at PH jails: 9 inmates, 9 jailers infected

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At least nine inmates and nine Bureau of Jail Management and Penology personnel have tested positive for coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) at the Quezon City jail facility.

Virus outbreak at PH jails: 9 inmates, 9 jailers infected
DANGER ZONE. Prison inmates at the Quezon City Jail are shown in cramped conditions in this photo taken on March 27, 2020. At least 9 inmates and 9 personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management of the Philippines have tested positive for the COVID-19, officials said, sparking urgent calls for the release of some prisoners particularly the elderly. AFP

Chief Insp. Xavier Solda, BJMP spokesman, said the nine prisoners were isolated at a facility in Barangay Payatas. The jail personnel, on the other hand, have been placed under home quarantine.

He said contract tracing is now being done to identify other individuals with whom the COVID-19 patients had direct contact.

Some 40 other jail personnel were tested to determine if they contracted the virus.

Two weeks ago, a detainee died possibly due to COVID-19.

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READ: COVID-19 Tracker: Philippines as of April 17, 2020

Although he died of acute myocardial infraction and hypertension, the attending physician said COVID-19 infection could have been a contributing condition, Solda said.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Friday urged local government units to include jails in their jurisdiction in mass testing as part of efforts to contain COVID-19.

DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said it would be up to the courts to decide if detainees should be released.

“There are some suggestions for the release of some detainees. These have to undergo proper judicial process. As long as there is court authorization, there will be no problems,” Malaya said.

At present, the BJMP has 14,875 personnel manning jails where persons with pending criminal cases are detained.

After conviction, the prisoners are transferred to prisons run by the Bureau of Corrections.

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered concerned government officials to file their comments on a petition seeking for the temporary release on humanitarian grounds of some detainees who may be vulnerable to COVID-19 infection while in detention.

During an online special en banc session Friday, the justices resolved to give the respondents a non-extendible period of until April 24, within which to submit their comment on the petition.

Court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said the 15-member bench conducted its special en banc session presided over by Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta through an online platform with all 15 SC justices in attendance.

“The Supreme Court without giving due course to the petition, ordered respondents to file comment by April 24,” Hosaka said.

“Respondents are ordered to take the necessary interim preventive measures required by this national emergency (COVID-19) and provide a verified report to the Court within the same period,” it added.

Earlier, more than 20 detainees asked the Supreme Court to order their temporary release through bail or personal recognizance, saying their age or physical or medical conditions make them vulnerable to COVID-19.

The petition named Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology chief Allan Iral, Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag, and six other jail and prison officials as respondents.

Several groups have called on authorities to ease prison populations by releasing detainees who are at risk of contracting the virus.

The Department of Justice said it is studying calls for the release of “low-risk offenders” in the custody of the Bureau of Corrections.

Edre Olalia, president of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, said the urgency of the situation calls for a “more decisive, less ponderous approach” even as he acknowledged the “prudent and practical considerations.”

Human Rights Watch Asia on Friday the importance of early release of inmates from jails in the country.

“Finding that the coronavirus has infected 18 inmates and personnel at the Quezon City Jail shows why it’s so critical the government actively pursues early release of detainees charged with low-level, nonviolent offenses, as well as the sick and older inmates,” said Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, in their statement on the outbreak of COVID-19 inside the Quezon City Jail.

“The government needs to act urgently to mitigate what could be a catastrophe inside the country’s overcrowded prisons before it’s too late,” said Robertson.

COVID-19, like other infectious diseases, poses a higher risk to people who live in close proximity to one another. Congestion in the Philippine prison system and other concurrent health problems have been well documented.

READ: Solons: Free inmates vulnerable to COVID

The chief of the hospital at the New Bilibid Prison, the country’s national penitentiary, said that about 5,200 inmates die every year from tuberculosis and other illnesses, as well as violence—about 20 percent of the prison’s total population.

The United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, raised the alarm on March 25 about detention facilities and COVID-19 around the world, warning of “catastrophic consequences” if the prison population is neglected. Among the measures she called for are early release of vulnerable detainees.

On April 8, political prisoners through the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers submitted a petition to the Supreme Court for the temporary release of all prisoners who are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection for humanitarian reasons.

On Friday, it was learned that about 30 detainees in the Correctional Institute for Women are suspected of having COVID-19.

READ: Local Roundup: ID system hits snag; senators wary

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