Jail congestion. That is the problem.
There is a Cebuano idiom for a jam-packed place, and that is “sinardinas,” which literally means packed like a can of sardines. The term though can be considered inadequate to paint the plight of detainees squeezed in a tight space. Thus, discussions on jail congestion must be placed in the human rights perspective. The people behind bars are human beings.
A detainee or a person deprived of liberty (PDL) accused of committing a crime or violating a law is considered innocent until proven guilty by the court.
The person has the right to defend himself in court. The accused cannot defend himself if he gets sick while in detention. If the illness is serious, the detainee who insists on his innocence cannot disprove the allegation of crime against him if he suddenly dies. The victim who insists that he is wronged by the accused cannot attain justice.
Jail Inspector Maria Roselle Paracale of the Talisay City Jail has said that she’s hoping they will get additional cells to relieve the congestion in the female dormitory.
With the current situation, many PDLs are prone to sickness because of the unhygienic conditions, she said.
She added that some PDLs have skin disease, while others are suffering from high blood pressure, asthma and cough.
To be squeezed in a tight place is also dangerous amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Talisay jail’s female dormitory has 229 female PDLs who are divided into two cells. Each cell was designed to accommodate a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 40 PDLs. However, Paracale said they have been forced to cram each one with more than 100 occupants.
The good thing is that the Talisay City Government is helping the jail facility. City Councilor Gail Restauro, chairman of the committee on peace and order, said they managed to allocate funds for the construction of a new female dormitory in 2023.
This project must be realized for the female PDLs’ sake.
Calling detainees PDLs is a move to humanize the people behind bars. They are human beings, in the first place, and some of them, if not all, could be victims of unfortunate events that forced them into the life of crime.
Calling them PDLs though is not humanizing enough. To humanize them, they must be placed in a facility where they can remain healthy to defend themselves in trial as it is their constitutional right to face their accusers.