BuCor disinfects facilities, distributes masks, alcohol at Bilibid amid COVID-19 threat
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Corrections is disinfecting facilities and providing alcohol and protective masks for inmates at the New Bilibid Prison amid the threat of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Col. Gabriel Chaclag, BuCor spokesperson, said the bureau has not recorded so far any COVID-19 case in the national penitentiary.
“So far we have no PUIs (persons under investigation. BuCor remains COVID-19-free and we hope and pray to stay that way,” he told reporters in a message.
The Philippines on Wednesday afternoon reported 202 COVID-19 infections in the country. Death toll is at 17, while seven patients have so far made recovery.
FOLLOW: LIVE updates: COVID-19 in the Philippines and the Luzon quarantine
Chaclag said BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag also directed strict measures to be enforced at the facilities. This includes “purchase of PPEs and misting machine to disinfect our areas, personnel and equipments.”
Chaclag said that inmates are given alcohol and protective masks and they also “try to not be close together.”
Those considered as vulnerable to the deadly virus were prioritized in the distribution of masks.
Chaclag also said the bureau is “conducting information drive for the [Persons Deprived of Liberty] to be educated in personal hygiene to fight the spread of diseases.”
Overcrowding, medical facilities
During a Senate hearing on Oct. 3, 2019, NBP hospital director Ernesto Tamayo said around 20% of maximum security inmates die every year mostly due to overcrowding, The STAR reported.
There are around 27,165 inmates at the maximum security area, which can only accommodate 6,435, for a congestion rate of 322%.
A separate STAR report in November 2019 quoted Henry Fabro, then-NBP hospital chief, as saying that one inmate die every day.
He said this may be mainly attributed to the prison system’s poorly equipped hospital and an astonishingly low number of medical professionals. There are only 13 physicians attending to more than 47,000 prisoners, across seven penal colonies of the BuCor.
Chaclag, however, said the bureau is “always in coordination with local authorities and have abolished arrangement with partner hospitals in case of a COVID-19 incident.”
Kapatid calls hotline, travel support for prisoners’ families
Since the entire of Luzon is under “enhanced community quarantine,” facilities under BuCor are off limits to visitors “except food deliveries that go through stringent screening,” said Chaclag.
Amid the lockdown, Kapatid, a group of relatives and friends of prisoners, called on the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases to setup a “government hotline and travel support” for kin of inmates that they may bring medicines and food to their loved ones.
In a statement Tuesday night, Fides Lim, Kapatid spokesperson, urged BuCor and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to “immediately ensure maintenance medicines for prisoners with chronic illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, [tuberculosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].”
The government bureaus were also urged to “immediately upgrade medical resources and facilities to protect the country’s 215,000 prisoners whose congested quarters make social distancing impossible and a COVID-19 pandemic most possible.”
The Department of Health said elderly people and those with underlying medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic lung disease and immunosuppression are at higher risk of contracting the disease.
Release of some prisoners?
Kapatid also called on the government to “follow the example of the Iran government,” that has released 85,000 prisoners since March to contain the spread of COVID-19 in their country.
The group urged a “mass release of low-level offenders and those already due for parole and pardon, plus very elderly and the very sick who are most susceptible to infection” amid the pandemic.
A report from BusinessInsider said the Iranian government temporarily released 85,000 of its prisoners as conditions in their jails deteriorated and inmates died due to the deadly disease.
Chief Inspector Xavier Solda, BJMP spokesperson, however stressed that the release of prisoners is a matter for our courts.
“We have a justice system, a court system. The release of PDL regardless of the nature of their offense is for the court to decide. We’re just implementing the orders,” Solda told reporters in a message.
Solda, however, said they manifested for a temporary suspension of hearings until the state of public emergency is lifted. — with reports from The STAR/Ghio Ong, Ralph Edwin Villanueva
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