MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila de Lima on Tuesday again recommended to release "qualified" persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) following the death of a Quezon City Jail inmate suspected to have had COVID-19 and subsequent isolation of 15 other detainees who shared the same cell.
De Lima reiterated her proposal to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-IED), saying that prisons are not “100 percent safe” from the coronavirus disease.
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“I again call upon the IATF-IED to consider the immediate release of qualified PDLs...The silence of our leaders regarding the dire situation of our PDLs is almost deafening,” the detained senator said in a Tuesday release.
“Ano pa ba ang hinihintay natin? Na dumami pa ang magpositibo sa COVID-19 sa mga bilangguan?”
(What are we waiting for? A COVID-19 outbreak in our prisons?)
The criteria to be used in considering the release of detainees or inmates, as suggested by De Lima, include the following:
- Elderly, 70 years old and above
- With serious illness or disability
- Detained, pre-conviction, for minor non-violent offenses
- Convicted for minor non-violent crimes
De Lima, who chairs the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, said that those detained or convicted of heinous crimes should not be considered for early release.
She also said that if such a policy was not yet possible or feasible nationwide, detention facilities in the National Capital Region should at least be prioritized.
“Marami sa kanila, tulad ng mga preso sa Quezon City Jail, ay mahihirap (Many of them, including prisoners at the Quezon City Jail, are poor). Many of them are supposed to be out already, but they aren’t because they cannot afford bail.”
Global recommendations
A World Health Organization report said that prisons and other detention facilities are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic due to the obstacle of implementing social distance.
“People deprived of their liberty, such as people in prisons and other places of detention, are likely to be more vulnerable to the [COVID-19] outbreak than the general population because of the confined conditions in which they live together for prolonged periods of time,” the WHO report dated March 15 read.
“Moreover, experience shows that prisons, jails and similar settings where people are gathered in close proximity may act as a source of infection, amplification and spread of infectious diseases within and beyond prisons. Prison health is therefore widely considered as public health.”
Due to the said conditions, local and international groups have recommended the decongestion of prisons and detention facilities, as well as regulation of arrests to avoid further populating these and exacerbating COVID-19 outbreaks.
“Now, more than ever, Governments should release every person detained without sufficient legal basis...Imprisonment should be a measure of last resort,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in March.
URGENT: UN Human Rights Chief @mbachelet urges Governments to act now to prevent #COVID19 devastating the health of people in detention and other closed facilities, as part of global efforts to contain the pandemic.
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) March 25, 2020
Learn more ???? https://t.co/rnNyBisoDM#StandUp4HumanRights pic.twitter.com/xZZyqeVKwn