By Vann Marlo M. Villegas
Reporter

TWENTY-SEVEN more inmates at the Correctional Institution for Women have been infected with the coronavirus disease 2019, prison officials said at the weekend, adding to worries about contagion risks in the country’s overcrowded prisons.

There are now 48 prisoners at the Mandaluyong City prison who have tested positive for COVID-19, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) said in a social media post.

Forty-seven female inmates were brought to the quarantine area of the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City, the bureau said.

The prisoners were well and did not show any symptoms, BuCor said, adding that they would be monitored in case any of them develop severe symptoms.

The Department of Health reported 285 new infections yesterday, bringing the total to 7,579

Seven more patients died, raising the death toll to 501, it said in a bulletin. Seventy more patients have gotten well, bringing the total recoveries to 862, it added.

With 215,000 prisoners nationwide, Philippine jails are overfilled five times their official capacity, making it the most overcrowded incarceration system in the world, according to the World Prison Brief.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has urged the government of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to act fast and release some detainees to prevent a major health catastrophe.

“Everyone acknowledges that jails in the Philippines are obscenely overcrowded, with people living right on top of each other, and recognizes that COVID-19 is an incredibly contagious disease that can spread like wildfire through crowds,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW, said in an e-mailed reply to questions.

“So it is astonishing that the government is being so obtuse and refusing to reduce prison populations by releasing those inmates held for nonviolent, relatively minor offenses,” he said.

“Without quick action to significantly reduce overcrowding, the Bureau of Corrections could find itself facing thousands of seriously sick prisoners and no way to quarantine or care for them,” he added.

The 27 prisoners were part of the second batch of 51 inmates tested for the COVID-19 virus.

A 72-year-old inmate confined at the Sta. Ana Hospital was the first to test positive for the disease.

Meanwhile, the first confirmed COVID-19 prisoner at the national penitentiary who was admitted at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City died on April 23.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Region VII said there were now 210 COVID-19-positive inmates at the Cebu City Jail Male Dormitory, with 63 new confirmed cases.

The city’s Public Information Office said it was coordinating with the BJMP to address the spike in infections at the city jail.

“Contact tracing and testing at the jail facility are ongoing,” it said in a social media post in the Visayan language.

Several groups have asked the Supreme Court to allow the release of inmates who are vulnerable to the disease. At least 22 political prisoners who are elderly and have underlying medical conditions sought their release through bail on humanitarian grounds.

The Department of Justice earlier approved an order by the Board of Pardon and Parole easing the requirements for parole and executive clemency.

The Office of the Court Administrator has also ordered trial judges to enforce a six-year-old rule allowing the release of prisoners who have served the minimum penalty for their sentences.

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