Less ‘sleeping like sardines’ as Philippines adopts Nelson Mandela prison rules — Global Issues

The Nelson Mandela Rules, which are named after the former president of South Africa who was wrongly imprisoned for 27 years and play an important role in prison reform in the Philippines.

In anticipation Nelson Mandela International Day These rules are held annually on July 18. Here’s what you need to know about the rules and what’s being done to implement them.

Humane treatment

The rules are intended to ensure that all prisoners are treated with respect and dignity and are not discriminated against. The environment in which these prisoners are housed is central to this requirement.

The Philippines ranks with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Uganda when it comes to overcrowded prisons, with inmates chronically confined to overcrowded and cramped facilities.

The Manila City Jail is holding some 3,200 men in a prison with a capacity of 1,200, with the men “sleeping like sardines,” Supreme Court Justice Maria Filomena Singh has said, describing the situation as “inhuman.”

The prison, which mainly holds pre-trial detainees, was built in 1867. Temperatures in the overcrowded dormitories can reach 40 degrees Celsius and therefore do not meet the requirements of the regulations: “appropriate attention to climatic conditions and in particular to the cubic air content, minimum floor area, lighting, heating and ventilation.”

healthcare

While Manila City Jail is a symbol of what needs to change in the Philippines, progress is being made in other prisons, particularly in the area of ​​health care. This is a central focus of the rules, which stipulate that “prisoners shall enjoy the same standards of health care as in the community, and shall have free access to necessary health care services, without discrimination on the basis of their legal status.”

Safety and dignity

Other key elements of the Nelson Mandela Rules include maintaining safe and secure conditions for both prisoners and prison staff, and implementing disciplinary measures that respect human dignity and prevent torture or other inhuman treatment.

The Philippines’ newest prison, the Marawi City Jail in Mindanao, was built with the rules in mind and will open in May 2024. It will replace the city’s old jail that was destroyed during a five-month Islamist insurgency in 2017.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the official administrator of the rules, provided technical assistance to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology during the process of creating the right conditions for the new facility, including reviewing the design of the infrastructure, establishing a library, security training, and evaluating inmates.

Education

The prison aims to support the social reintegration of prisoners through education, vocational training and other programs, as emphasized in the rules.

Faculty members from Mindanao State University (MSU) will teach classes and students from the law school will support prisoners in their legal cases, which could help speed up the legal process.

Inmates can also consult legal texts in the newly stocked library and read the rules in Tagalog, one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the Philippines.

The newly designated court in the building, where the first hearing took place at the end of June, will also contribute to faster handling of cases.

It is expected that solving cases more quickly will prevent the prison from becoming overcrowded. “Hopefully, the influx of prisoners will be equal to the number leaving,” said Renato Reynaldo Roales, a UNODC National Programme Officer based in Mindanao.

The first 50 prisoners were transferred to the new prison in June and four were released after appearing in court that same week.

The Marawi City Jail is expected to become the model for modern detention facilities in the Philippines as the country continues to reform its legal and penal systems.

Renato Reynaldo Roales of UNODC said more prisoners, both those awaiting trial and those already convicted, would benefit from the introduction of the Nelson Mandela Rules, which follow the principle that “the only thing that should be taken away from a prisoner is his or her liberty.