Vanessa Kate F. Madrazo
(Note: The names of the inmates mentioned in this article have been modified to protect them from any possibility of incrimination and to safeguard them and their family from stigmatization. Any existing references with the now modified names are mere coincidences.)
LINDON Boha had not seen his daughters for the last three months, and for the last seven years, it has been very difficult to be a father and take part in his children’s life because he is in jail.
But his seven years in jail was spent not in a sentence but in detention, meaning until today, he is presumed innocent, not yet proven guilty. Since 2008, he has undergone only five trials with no resolution.
Boha is only one of the many hundreds of detainees in the city jail in Ma-a, Davao City who spends years confined while waiting for a verdict to determine conviction or acquittal.
“Halos lahat postponed, dalhin sa korte pero walang mangyari(Almost all [trials] are postponed. We’re brought to the court but nothing happens),” he said.
Contrary to public perception, the Davao City Jail (DCJ) is home to people who are still under prosecution, most of them being tried for drug-related cases. They are not criminals, rather, they are detained only under a probable cause.
Upon entering the jail, some detainees roam freely around, repairing jail officers’ cars, or delivering documents to offices. The women in their area are weaving bags, while some are cooking in the kitchen. As opposed to imagined unruly crooks in a frightening environment, there is instead a friendly atmosphere and a sense of community.
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Davao prides that its jail is not a hell hole but rather a community that works on taking care of the detainees and treating them with respect and trust, even providing them with livelihood projects and welfare services including daily medical check-ups that are rather difficult to access in the general society.
“These detainees still have almost the same rights as normal citizens,” BJMP communications officer JO1 Monna Sawan said in making a distinction against convicted criminals who serve sentence in the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, formerly the Davao Penal Colony (DaPeCol), in Panabo City.
“Kailangan pa rin i-inculcate ang dignity as a human being (There is still a need to inculcate the dignity as a human being),” Sawan added.
Despite these efforts, however, the inmates experience a greater problem on the process of justice.
“Makikita nyo, ang talagang daing ng mga inmates ay masyadong matagal ang kaso (You will see that the grudge of the inmates is that the cases take too long),” Sawan said.
“Labi na pag wala’y atraso(Especially if there’s no real violation),” inmate Kevin Marquez expressed. “Dili tanan diri naa’y sala (Not everyone here really committed a crime).” Marquez claims to be innocent but he has already spent two years in jail. Out of 14 scheduled trials, only five pushed through for him.
The Philippine Constitution provides in Section 14 under the Bill of Rights that, “In all criminal prosecution, the accused…shall enjoy the right…to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial…” This right, however, is poorly observed.
“Ang problema talaga namin ay ang takbong hustisya (Our major problem here is the process of justice),” Inmate President Brandon Agila said. “Mahina, bulok, wala pa ring resulta (It’s weak, and rotten. Still no results).”
But more than that, justice delayed branches out to a chain of problems that not only compromises the rights of the detainees, but also their welfare as their living conditions worsen and the stereotypes against them aggravate.
As Inmate President, Agila takes note of his fellow detainees’ requests or complaints and forwards them to the management. He noted how, besides the postponed trials, majority of the complaints are about the overcrowding.
Miguel Kampana, for example, shares a cell with 45 other inmates, when if compared to the outside society, the cell’s size usually is occupied only by one person. “Guot na kaayo, gipit na ang area (It’s too cramped in here. The area is so small),” Kampana said.
“Patiang chapel pinapatulugan na rin tuwing gabi (Even the chapel is now a place of sleep during the night),” Agila explained.
The constantly postponed trials cause a great imbalance between the people who get committed in jail, and those who get out either through conviction or acquittal.
Kampana said that release is a rare occurrence there. “Pero ang macommit, daghan(But the people who get committed are a lot),” he added.
The delays result in congestion. Inmates described how they sleep like matches in a matchbox. The only compensating tools are blankets, pillows, and an electric fan provided in each cell, but even these were not enough to prevent them from the effects of an overcrowded cell with poor ventilation.
Inmates expressed how illnesses surface within these conditions where most will get coughs, colds, and allergies while a few others go to the extent of tuberculosis.
The inmates whose diseases become severe are put in an isolated cell separate from the general population of detainees.
More than that, it is also common for inmates to fall into depression because of their lengthened separation from their families and loved ones especially when they don’t visit. Most of them long for the company of their children and whose children long for a parental presence.
To ease feelings of misery, inmates often amuse themselves to be distracted from deep thoughts. The BJMP holds a Warden’s League where inmates compete in various sports including but not limited to basketball, sepak takraw, and even chess.
“Importante ang kalingawan, para dili sigeg huna-huna sa pamilya (Amusement is important so that we don’t keep thinking about our families),” Kampana said.
In addition to that, the inmates also have a therapeutic community that they call “morning meetings” where they talk about their problems or express their frustrations, about life, or against another person. This has also been effective in greatly reducing violent manifestations of anger which is why fistfights, if ever, rarely happen.
However, even in light of the compensating mechanisms within the jail, the length of their stay still aggravates the negative stereotypes against them by unintentionally and misleadingly validating false assumptions about their nature. The longer they stay, the worse they are perceived.
“May stigma kasi sa kanila eh (It’s because they have a stigma),” J01 Sawan explained, “iba ang perception ng community sa reality (the perception of the community is different from reality).” She said that this was also a result of how media portrays them too.
This makes it harder for them to integrate back to society and become accepted by their neighborhoods or even getting accepted in normal jobs in the situation they get acquitted.
The problem on justice, and the speedy trials, however, is not one that the BJMP is responsible for but that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is. This usually stems from the clogging in the courts when pending cases pile up until there’s too much to handle.
The inmates are already accustomed to the idea that cases usually take long to settle because of their number but more than that, trials also don’t push through in the absence of key personnel including judges, attorneys, and prosecutors, among others, which further slows down the process.
“Hindi matuloy ang kaso pag hindi kumpleto(The case won’t push through if [they’re] not complete,” inmate Boha said. “Kailangan nandyan din ang arresting officer (The arresting officer has to be there too).”
Sometimes judges get sick, but worse than that is when judges retire especially when it takes a very long time before that judge is replaced making the courts dysfunctional for a long period of time.
“Minsan four months walang judge (Sometimes there are no judges in four months),” inmate Marquez expressed.
As a DCJ paralegal, J02 Josine Antipolo follows up on the trials and works on assisting inmates be released from jail. What she does is file a bail, and make a motion to reduce.
“Pero yung may mga pera lang ang kadalasang nakakapag-bail (But most often only those who have the money are able to bail),” Antipolo said.
On the other hand, she points the problem on justice to the lack of resources. For one thing, there are only two courts in the entire Region XI in proportion to the thousands of detainees awaiting trial all over the region that they need to cater to. The DCJ alone contains more than 2,000 detainees.
“Minsan, pinagkakasya ang 10 hearings in one day pero lima lang ang natapos kaya postpone na naman (Sometimes, [they] squeeze 10 hearings in one day but only five finish so [they] postpone again),” Antipolo expressed.
She also said judges are mandated for a monthly visit to jail to review the conditions the detainees are facing. Right now, an additional court has been lobbied, but so far, there are no updates regarding the matter.
The government also tried to respond to the problem on congestion by adding four additional cells to the city jail. Records officer JO2 Amos Boquison Jr. also said that part of the plans laid out by the Local Government Unit (LGU) is the relocation of the jail to the Mintal area to accommodate more detainees.
But simply expanding the jail does not prevent from congestion and its consequences to happen again, rather, it simply delays them.
The best that the BJMP can do at this point is ask help from other institutions to, at the very least, secure the inmates’ welfare while they’re there. “Nililigawan naming ang city government, ang NGOs, katulad ng Red Cross, (We court the city government, and NGOs like the Red Cross),” JO1 Sawan said about acquiring food and other supplies.
But no matter how much there is an attempt to secure their welfare, or expand the jail, the interconnected problems of congestion, health, psychology, and stigma, will keep recurring and will keep getting bigger unless there is a response to the lapses within the justice system itself.
Justice delayed is justice denied. This affects the inmates, and the offended alike. But if the courts are too full and the lawyers too scarce, who will remain to fight for what’s fair?
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Vanessa Kate F. Madrazo is a student of Ateneo de Davao University.