UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Watched the KBP Presidential Forum and was struck by the question on drugs and congestion. Here are the candidates’ views: Pacquiao — build mega prisons. Guzman — arrest drug lords and rehab the users. Moreno — constrict supply chain. Lacson — holistic drug policy, regionalized prisons. Robredo — prison congestion rate at 582 percent; amend drug law to distinguish between users, dependents, and pushers.
Jail congestion is a chronic and insidious problem that grows by the day. Duterte’s war on drugs exacerbated the congestion by throwing thousands in jail, mainly those accused of using illegal drugs. TV footages show inmates taking turns sleeping cheek by jowl, and standing the whole day, with the crush of bodies preventing even a moment’s rest. Riots break out periodically. Disease runs rampant. Deaths abound. It is a national disgrace.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the detrimental impact of imprisonment extends beyond the individual to the families, communities, and ultimately society. The impact on the family of the incarcerated is severe, especially if the prisoner is the breadwinner. Even when released, former prisoners endure an endless cycle of poverty, marginalization, criminality, and imprisonment. The social impact extends across generations.
Prisons are notorious for being disease incubators. The overcrowding, poor nutrition and sanitation, and inadequate access to fresh air and exercise leads to a whole host of diseases: Psychiatric disorders, HIV, TB, hepatitis B and C, sexually transmitted diseases, and diarrhea.
The cost of imprisonment is immense, since prisons must be built and maintained, and staff have to be hired. The prisoners’ upkeep, no matter how minimal, can be better used for other state endeavors. We can ill afford building more mega-prisons (sorry, Manny) or regional prisons (sorry, Ping) My personal experience with the issue is through my periodic court appearances to testify as expert witness in paternity cases, when I see orange-wearing “persons deprived of liberty” (PDL) arriving by the dozen in chain gangs. These are mostly charged with petty crimes. Hearings often end up being reset or postponed for various reasons, and then they are sent back to jail to wait for the next hearing weeks or months later. According to the World Prison Brief, 75.1 percent of incarcerations in the Philippines, or 141,422 out of 188,278 prisoners are pre-trial detainees, whose average time spent in jail is nine months without a sentence! That’s beyond shocking! They are accused mainly of bailable crimes but don’t have the money to pay bail, so they end up incarcerated for long periods of time, while harsh conditions and the influence of the more incorrigible prisoners only make more hardened criminals of them.
Thus, it is the poor who end up in jail while the influential, rich, or political figures go scot-free by simply paying bail; or for non-bailable offenses, they secure “hospital arrest,” plead old age, or get off with a technicality because they can hire lawyers good at evading the law rather than enforcing them.
This is (in)justice in the Philippines. The rot runs deep. But the immediate issue is to decongest jails. Justice delayed is justice denied. Why can’t the Supreme Court hasten the trial process? For those charged with petty crimes, set a deadline for resolution and stick with it. Many have been in jail long enough to have served the time required for a conviction. Can’t they be released on their own recognizance for having served time but without being labeled “convicts?” They can still be productive members of society by doing community service while thus starting to be reintegrated into society. Those who are frail and elderly should be discharged to hospitals for humanitarian reasons.
That’s the short-term solution. The longer term is to create rehabilitation centers, where first-time convicts can learn to be reintegrated into society instead of being thrown in jail with hardened criminals.
Rehabilitate drug users and drug dependents in halfway houses. Better yet, start the decriminalization of drug use and see it as a social, not a criminal problem. When drugs are no longer illicit, such as marijuana in many countries, the impetus for criminal activity is gone. In addition, the legalized marijuana trade creates new job opportunities and adds tax money to government coffers that can be used for penal reform.
Other victimless crimes such as vagrancy, drunkenness, and illegal gambling should also be decriminalized.
Only then can we decongest our jails, and in turn improve the facilities and increase the space to create more humane prison conditions. It will also allow NGOs of volunteer lawyers to take care of the legal needs of the remaining inmates who need representation but can’t afford it.
The Public Attorney’s Office should be front and center in championing the rights of the falsely accused and extending legal aid to the poor instead of tilting at imaginary windmills like Dengvaxia and COVID-19 vaccines.
Or is that too much to ask?