Filtered By: Topstories
News

Ex-chief justice Puno: Lack of budget is prisons’ biggest problem


Lack of financial support from government at the local and national levels are the biggest problems for detainees and convicts, former Chief Justice Reynato Puno said. Puno blamed the shoestring budgets for the deplorable conditions in jails and prisons, during a summit on enhancing inmates' dignity in Manila this week. “The lack of resources is the mother of all problems for it breeds a lot of other problems," he said in a talk with delegates to the National Summit on Collaborative Partnership Towards Enhancing the Dignity of the Persons Deprived of Liberty, held at the Manila Diamond Hotel recently. Excerpts of his statement were posted Friday on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site. Puno said the problems facing inmates include:

  • congestion in Metro Manila jails where gangs that promised protection are formed;
  • an "invisible government" with criminal bosses corrupting some jail officials; and
  • the prevalence of illnesses and hunger.
He said all these hamper the rehabilitation of detainees and make their incarceration more of an opportunity to corrupt their character. Codifying prisoners’ rights Puno also pointed out that there is at present no law that governs the rights of prisoners because all the existing rules are merely paper rules. “The result is the law of the jungle in our penitentiaries where the beast rules," he said. He added that even after a man’s conviction, an inmate’s basic rights as protected by the Constitution remain. Calling on the government to codify the prisoners’ rights, he underscored the fact that the Constitution cannot be barred at the country’s penitentiaries as prison authorities are not allowed to inflict inhuman punishment. Reintegration problem Puno also cited the difficulties former inmates face when they have to be reintegrated into society. He said most of the inmates come from broken homes and they have no families to return to. When one looks at the composite profile of inmates, “they cannot evoke sympathy as they are hardly literate," he added. “Their changes of rejoining the mainstream of society range from nil to nothing," he said. Puno, who heads a non-government organization serving inmates and other detainees, said the Department of Education can expand efforts to teach inmates to read and write. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority can also train them into productive members of society while the Social Welfare Department may share a portion from the Conditional Cash Transfer to help inmates begin new and productive lives, he said. He added the Cooperative Development Authority can help inmates begin their own cooperatives while the Environment Department can make an inventory of idle land that may be given to inmates to farm. “The Department of Health can source their beds and bedsheets from inmates, too," he added. Private-public partnership in penology The former Chief Justice described his prescriptions as “encyclopedic" as he called on several agencies to do their share. He said Congress can effect change in the justice system by revising some “outdated" laws to conform to the spirit of the 1987 Constitution. Puno said the Revised Penal Code should be reviewed to deal with crimes committed by women with sensitivities to gender, by minors with sensitivity to the best interests of the child, crimes against property with sensitivity to the poor, and drug offenders who need rehabilitation rather than mere handcuffs. He also called for a creation of a commission composed of penal, legal and other experts to undertake the review soonest. Puno also called for private-public partnership to resolve all these concerns, saying solutions to the problems involve a “huge investment of time, talent and treasure."—JV, GMANews.TV
LOADING CONTENT