KARAPATAN supports the protest of more than 600 “persons deprived of liberty,” including political prisoners, at the Negros Occidental District Jail in Bago City, Negros Occidental. We call on the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to respect the rights and welfare of the prisoners, including their legitimate right to seek redress of their grievances, as per their obligation under domestic and international human rights instruments.
KARAPATAN asserts that the prisoners’ protest, which started on August 24, is a just and important form of seeking redress over the worsening conditions at the NODJ. In their petition, the prisoners stated severe reductions in food rations resulting in hunger; cancellation of livelihood programs including vegetable gardening which supplemented meager food rations and supported indigent prisoners; solitary confinement and denial of sunning rights; denial of visitation rights by their immediate families; denial of medicines and access to medical services; harassment of jail officers; irregularities in the cashless system, among others.
Such conditions violate Republic Act No. 7438, which codified the rights of persons arrested, detained or under custodial investigation; Republic Act No. 9745 or the Anti-Torture Law; and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
The deplorable and subhuman conditions in Philippine prisons like NODJ is a publicly acknowledged concern, one that has been exacerbated by the stark realities on unequal access to justice between the rich and the poor, on the government campaigns to imprison drug suspects and political dissenters, and the deep-seated corrupt system as preserved by prison personnel and officials.
Instead of harassing the protesting prisoners, jail authorities should heed and take steps to address the prisoners’ legitimate concerns. We call on the Commission on Human Rights to take concrete steps to uphold the prisoners’ rights and welfare, and activate the interim National Preventive Mechanism, which the Commission established in 2016 pending the legislation of a formal NPM, to conduct investigations into the situation of the prisoners.