Tarlac shooting triggers call to pass bill to build Alcatraz-type facility

MANILA, Philippines — Two days after a police officer murdered an elder woman and her son in Tarlac, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Tuesday renewed calls for the House of Representatives to pass the bill seeking to establish a separate prison facility for heinous crime convicts.

Zubiri made the call after filing Senate Resolution No. 600, which seeks an investigation on the series of “unlawful killings” in the country, together with five other senators.

The senator said the spate of killings underscored the need for maximum security prisons as deterrent to “would-be heinous criminals.”

“This Christmas, my simple wish is ipasa na ng House of Representatives yung bill namin ni Senate President Sotto at ni Sen. [Richard] Gordon sa pag-establish ng Alcatraz-type prisons for heinous crimes,” Zubiri said in a message to reporters.

“Itong mga kulungan na ito ay isolated na walang cell phone signal at wifi at ang mga inmates ay nasa isolation cells para hindi  maka-organize at mag plano nang mga masasamang balak sa loob nang kulungan,” he added.

Zubiri said “a life in isolation is a fitting punishment to these murderers, drug lords, rapists and plunderers.”

“We truly need these type of maximum security prisons as a deterrent to would be heinous criminals. At sa mga gumawa nang karumal dumal na krimen ay mabubulok naman kayo nang habang buhay na mag-isa dito sa mga facilities na ito,” he added.

The Senate approved on final reading the measure seeking to establish a separate prison facility for heinous crime convicts back in December 2019.

If signed into law, the Maximum Penal Institution would be built in a suitable location “preferably within a military establishment or [on] an island separate in the mainland.

The penal institution will have to be located “in a secured and isolated place ensuring that there is no unwarranted contact or communication with those outside of the penal institution.”

It will be a “state-of-the-art” facility complete with security measures — such as surveillance cameras and extensive security features on locks, doors, and its perimeters, the measure states.

The facility is being modeled after Alcatraz, a former fortified prison facility in an island in California, United States for hardened criminals, believing that its isolation made it impossible for convicts to escape.

However, it was shut down due to massive maintenance costs and alleged human rights abuses within its thick walls.

EDV