Political prisoners assail reported transfer plan to isolation cells

MANILA, Philippines — Political prisoners rejected the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology’s (BJMP) alleged plan to transfer them to  “solitary isolation cells,” which they said is a violation of human rights. 

One of the political prisoners and consultants of the National Democratic Front (NDF), Vicente Ladlad expressed reservations about the reported transfer to the 2×3 “cubicles.”

“We do not want to be put in those cubicles. Prolonged solitary confinement is illegal according to human rights standards in the UN Standard Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners and even in the Philippine Anti-Torture Act,” Ladlad and other political prisoners and persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) said in a statement.  

Under Rule 43 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Mandela Rules, indefinite solitary confinement; prolonged solitary confinement; placement of a prisoner in a dark or constantly lit cell; corporal punishment or the reduction of a prisoner’s diet or drinking water; and collective punishment — or sanctions amount to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment — shall be prohibited. 

Likewise, the Philippine Anti-Torture Act or Republic Act No. 9745 barred “secret detention places, solitary, incommunicado or other similar forms of detention, where torture may be carried out with impunity.”

According to Ladlad, their families will only be allowed to visit them once a month after they are moved to the new facility. 

He added that they are satisfied with their current confinement — at the MMDJ4’s fourth floor right wing. All 23 of them occupy six cells, while another cell was converted into a gym after a donor gave them equipment for working out. 

Compared to the new facility, visitors can meet PDLs five times a week, from Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday to Sunday at the MMDJ4, Ladlad said. 

US’ alleged hand in new facility

The NDF consultant also said they are concerned that the “US government has a hand in running the new jail facility.”

“We got reports of some representatives of the US International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) under the US Department of Justice meeting some local jail officials about the transfer of PDLs to the new jail facilty. A top BJMP officer admitted that ICITAP had been involved in training BJMP officers. It donated scanners for MMDJ4,” they said. 

“We are concerned that the ICITAP will impose the harsh ways the US has treated prisoners accused of being terrorist .In the infamous Guantanamo jails ran by the US. The prisoners are kept in solitary confinement, denied family visits and access to legal counsels, subjected to torture, and imprisoned indefinitely without charges,” they added. 

Fides Lim, spokesperson of Kapatid — a group of family and friends of political prisoners —said they already appealed their concern before the Makabayan bloc lawmakers. 

In a dialogue last March 5, Kapatid said ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro questioned the US’ involvement in the funding and construction of the new jail facility. 

Castro, along with Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel, said they will call for an ocular inspection of the new facility together with the House committee on human rights. 

In response to this, Kapatid revealed that BJMP chief Gen. Director Ruel Rivera explained that ICITAP’s involvement only revolves around the training of local jail personnel, stressing that he is also against the practice of solitary confinement.

Rivera promised to conduct an ocular inspection on the new facility and “provide the Makabayan party-list representatives with complete background information about it, including funding source and the BJMP’s logistics development plan around 2016.”

Double occupancy cells

When asked about these cells, BJMP spokesperson Jayrex Joseph Bustinera said the agency’s new facilities are following a “human right-based approach in jail management.”

He likewise explained that “bartolina” or isolation of PDLs in 24 hours per day is prohibited under their policy.

“They could be referring to the new MMDJ facility where we will relocate jails in Bicutan as part of our decongestion program. This facility is more modern and spacious,” Bustinera told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview

He also refuted claims that the cells are 2×3 meters in size but revealed that “smaller cells” will be designed to accommodate PDLs “that require to be segregated from the general population,” such as those with contagious disease.

“By design, PDL will be classified according to their criminogenic risk, custodial risk, and rehabilitation program. This means that there will be cells for low and medium risk where they share a big cell for 10 people without congestion,” the BJMP official said.

Instead of single occupancy, Bustinera said the smaller cells are “double occupancy” for PDLs with “high custodial risk.”

Appeal before the CBCP

As they await for BJMP’s commitment, political prisoners also forwarded their concern to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). 

 Ladlad and Adelberto Silva, another NDF consultant and political prisoner, handed over their appeal to CBCP Vice President Bishop Mylo Vergara right after his Holy Wednesday mass at the Metro Manila District Jail Annex 4 in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig City. 

“Ayaw po naming malipat sa bagong facility (We don’t want to be transferred to the new facility),” Ladlad told Vergara in front of other PDLs and visitors who attended the mass. 

Vergara thanked them for asking CBCP for help and said that he will look into the matter.

On the other hand, Bustinera revealed that on Wednesday evening, the warden of MMDJ4 reported that  the BJMP chief “inspected the new facility” and inspected the current cells of inmates in Bicutan before conducting another dialogue with them.

Through Kapatid, Lim and other families were able to visit their loved ones and raise enough funds for the political prisoners’ food — since a P70 daily budget per head cannot cover nutritious food, especially for senior PDLs or those with health conditions.