CHR junks inmate’s complaint of maltreatment by guards but orders jail officials to remove shackles from his legs

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Human Rights in Negros Oriental rejected a complaint by an inmate that he has been placed in a dungeon (bartolina) or solitary confinement for more than two months with shackles in his legs, and barred from talking to his visiting family.

CHR field investigator Jess Cañete, upon receiving the complaint from inmate Neil Cariño, immediately conducted a surprise inspection of the Negros Oriental Detention and Rehabilitation Center, or the Provincial Jail, last Friday to verify the allegations and that if his legs were swollen due to the shackles.

Cariño was inside a small cell at the farthest end of a hallway but his feet were not swelling due to the shackles, and that visitation rights were also allowed, said the CHR official who concluded that the inmate was in good state. The shackles were put on after he bolted jail twice in the past, according to the jail guards.

Cañete understood the act of the jail guards on Cariño, who was tagged as a “high risk” detainee, but he ordered warden, Joselito Bitoon, to remove the shackles from the inmate’s ankles because the law does not allow it unless the detainee is being transported to court for a hearing. Bitoon obliged with the CHR order right away.

The inmate is facing a charge of robbery with homicide for the death of a couple in 1999 at Barangay Balayong in Pamplona town. Two years later, he escaped from jail but was rearrested. In 2002, he broke jail again together the Junior Amaro, a suspected NPA rebel who was tagged as responsible in a payroll heist in Sta. Catalina town.

In 2003, Cariño figured in an encounter with the military at Barangay Bayombong in Zamboanguita town, after which he went into hiding until two to three months ago when somebody tipped authorities of his presence in Sibulan where he was eventually recaptured.

Bitoon took full responsibility in securing Cariño in chains but denied putting the inmate in bartolina for months, saying that the latter is even being brought out of his cell every day for outdoor exposure and for the call of nature.

The CHR official admitted it is the responsibility of jail authorities to secure the inmate to ensure that inmates could not escape, but this can be done without using handcuffs, shackles, fetters or other restraining items that would violate the anti-torture law. (FREEMAN)