A POLITICAL prisoners support group has asked the government to consider releasing low-level offenders to help decongest the country’s jails.
In a statement on Monday, Kapatid convenor Fides M. Lim said the Philippines should immediately adopt steps to grant these prisoners early parole or probation as well as release elderly and sick inmates.
The call came following United States President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s recent move to grant a mass pardon for those in jail for marijuana possession, a low-level offense in the US.
“All possible measures should be taken by the government to decisively address the congestion problem, including serious moves similar to US President Biden’s mass pardon initiative,” Ms. Lim said.
The group recognized the government’s release of over 350 inmates from the national penitentiary last month, but urged the Justice department to prioritize the cases of “high-risk” prisoners with illnesses.
“Why include the very elderly in planned releases but shut the door on 83-year old farmer and SELDA member Gerardo Dela Peña who is turning blind after nearly 10 years in prison and is already lined up for release?,” said Ms. Lim, citing the case of a human rights defender who has been detained for murder charges.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla told the United Nations Human Rights Council last week that the government aims to release 5,000 prisoners by next year.
He earlier said the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa, which was designed to house 6,000 prisoners, had over 17,000 inmates.
With 215,000 prisoners nationwide, Philippine jails and prisons are overfilled more than five times their official capacity, making them the most overcrowded prison system in the world, according to the World Prison Brief.
Many of the country’s jails fail to meet the minimum United Nations standards given inadequate food, poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The Commission on Human Rights has repeatedly flagged the worsening congestion in Philippine jails, more recently spurred by the arrests of suspects in former President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s deadly war on drugs. — John Victor D. Ordoñez