MANILA, Philippines — The number of COVID-19 cases in the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) has risen to 20, with new infections recorded in 18 inmates and one Bureau of Corrections personnel.
In a statement Tuesday, BuCor said the Philippine Red Cross conducted 51 PCR tests following the confirmation of its first COVID-19 case in a 72-year-old detainee at the CIW.
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42 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) and nine BuCor staff were traced to have had contact with the confirmed case and were subjected to COVID-19 test.
“19 Covid-19 positive out of 51 persons tested,” BuCor said.
“Those tested positive were reported to have mild symptoms and some are asymptomatic. They are now being monitored and given vitamins, medicines and food supplements to strengthen their immune system,” it added.
BuCor said they are conducting contact tracing to identify those who came in close contact with the COVID-19 patients and to place them in isolation.
“Quarantine areas were previously identified and now being used. Further testing on all persons who are suspect and probable,” it added.
The bureau also said it is beefing up medical personnel at the CIW and enhancing partnership with public hospitals for the admission of patients who need hospital care.
But BuCor admitted that the “CIW needs more vitamins for PDLs, food supplements that promote the immune system, beds and big tents.”
Decongestion of jails
Calls for the release of vulnerable PDLs in our overcrowded jails and penal facilities in the time of COVID-19 pandemic continue to mount.
Data on BuCor website, posted in 2017, meanwhile showed that the CIW has capacity for 2,453 detainees. 2018 data from the Commission on Audit shows that there were 3,175 PDLs in the facility in Mandaluyong.
President Rodrigo Duterte in his latest report to the Congress said the Board of Pardons and Parole, under the Department of Justice, is crafting interim guidelines for “the expeditious release of PDLs who are already of old age, sickly or are suffering from terminal illnesses or with serious disabilities.”
The board is also asked to look into those who are eligible for parole or executive clemency, in order to decongest penal facilities.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra earlier explained that PDLs in BuCor facilities are those serving final judgment and may be released through Good Conduct and Time Allowance, parole or executive clemency—functions under the executive branch.
The Office of the Court Administrator, meanwhile, on Monday reminded lower court judges of a 2014 Supreme Court directive to release from detention accused who may have served minimum penalty for offenses charged or whose case may be provisionally dismissed due to delayed proceedings brought about by absence of essential witness.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology last week said there are nine inmates of the Quezon City jail and nine of its personnel who contracted the virus.
The FREEMAN, meanwhile, reported that two inmates at the Cebu City jail and one jail guard tested positive for COVID-19.
The SC has also ordered the government to answer the petition for temporary release filed by a group of 22 inmates.