MANILA – Sen. Richard Gordon urged local government units (LGUs) to allocate resources to improve prison conditions in the country.
Gordon made the statement following the death of a tambay inside a jail facility in Quezon City.
Genesis “Tisoy” Argoncillo, who was arrested by the police in an anti-loitering operation, died last week after he was allegedly mauled by fellow inmates in the Novaliches police station.
Allocating resources for the improvement of the country’s jail facilities will address the congestion problems that deprive prisoners of humane and dignified treatment, said the chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights.
“The Philippine Red Cross has scoured the country and found that jails and detention facilities all over are massively overcrowded and lack sanitary facilities,” he added. “Prisoners have human rights too which is why I am calling on LGUs to devote resources for ensuring the humane treatment of prisoners.”
Gordon also proposed the revocation of the cityhood of cities that fail to house detainees or prisoners in humane facilities.
He said “all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person,” citing Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The human rights treaty also requires that “the reform and social re-adaptation of prisoners” must be an “essential aim” of imprisonment,” Gordon added./PN
