‘Low-risk’ inmates’ release up to President, says DOJ

MANILA, Philippines — It is up to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to determine whether vulnerable prisoners and nonviolent, elderly and low-risk detainees should be released from jail to prevent them from contracting the severe respiratory disease COVID-19, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Wednesday.

But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the release of any prisoner at this time would ultimately have to be approved by President Duterte.

Human rights groups, the Commission on Human Rights, political detainees and the House of Representatives’ justice committee have been calling for the temporary release of vulnerable inmates to protect them from COVID-19 in overcrowded jails and detention cells.

Nograles, spokesperson for the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the body had briefly discussed the appeals.

“We have looked at the pros and cons and the steps that we can take,” he said in a televised briefing.

The decision, however still lies with the DOJ. “We will defer to the DOJ Secretary,” Nograles said.

Guevarra said he needed a week to study the “multifaceted” matter.

“The pros and cons have to be carefully evaluated,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Guevarra said the DOJ would only look into the release of “low-risk offenders” who have already been convicted and were serving their sentences in prisons under the Bureau of Corrections.

The release of inmates who are still awaiting, or undergoing trial while detained in jails run by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) will be up to the discretion of the courts, the DOJ chief said.

Convicted prisoners are usually released through parole, executive clemency, or good conduct time allowance that will reduce the period of their sentence, “all of which go through a process,” Guevarra pointed out.

He said he had not read the petition filed by a group of 22 political detainees asking the Supreme Court for temporary release on humanitarian grounds during the national health emergency.

The Supreme Court has not announced when it would tackle the petition but had decided to convene a video conference on Friday, the first time it will do so in this manner.

Insiders said the justices were expected to take up the political detainees’ petition and to order Malacañang to disclose Mr. Duterte’s health records.

The magistrates have not held their weekly full court sessions since March.

A business group has come forward supporting the call to decongest prisons and detention centers to prevent persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) from getting infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The Judicial Reform Initiative (JRI), the voice of the business sector for a better justice system, had written the DOJ and the Supreme Court earlier this week seeking measures to keep the pandemic from spreading inside jails.

“While obviously the State cannot set free hardened criminals, may we join other voices in appealing to your good offices for humanitarian reasons to please identify selected groups and individuals that could be released?” the JRI’s April 13 letter read.

“Our severely crowded detention facilities are fertile grounds for the proliferation of this highly communicable disease,” it added.

The JRI noted how other countries have moved to ease the burden on prison systems, such as through the release of tens of thousands of PDLs in Afghanistan, Canada, India, Iran, Italy, Poland, Sudan, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.According to the BJMP, in April last year, the congestion rate in Metro Manila was more than 600 percent, while the nationwide average was 442 percent.

During that time, the Manila City Jail had more than 5,700 PDLs in a facility meant for 1,200. The Quezon City Jail had more than 5,200 PDL’s instead of just 900.

While awaiting the President’s approval, the group suggested that senior inmates 70 years old and above, as well as those with preexisting serious medical conditions, be sheltered in “more isolated and safer facilities.”

Highly vulnerable PDLs, the group said, should be allowed home detention or bail. —WITH REPORTS FROM LEILA B. SALAVERRIA, DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN AND ROY STEPHEN C. CANIVEL