Overwhelmed

In the first six months of the year, 20 detainees have died in the jail cells of the Manila Police District. Not due to beatings by fellow inmates or being shot while trying to escape, but because of various afflictions related to detention in a congested, poorly ventilated facility. This is according to MPD officials themselves, who want courts to speed up adjudication and commitment orders so the inmates can be moved out of police jails.

At one MPD station alone, two detention cells built to accommodate only 30 inmates held 122 as of the other day. In another police station, detention facilities designed for no more than 25 inmates held 107. The MPD dormitory for females, with a capacity for only 10 detainees, held 50.

The continuing campaign against illegal drugs swelled the inmate population nationwide, with no corresponding expansion in detention facilities. The current intensified campaign against loiterers or tambays – or, as the Philippine National Police prefers to call them, violators of city ordinances – has aggravated jail congestion. Detention facilities are overwhelmed. MPD officials fear there will be more detainee deaths related to jail overcrowding.

The situation in many other police stations in Metro Manila is the same. The Philippine National Police is doing its part in the maintenance of peace and order, but the effort must be supported by the necessary facilities and other resources.

In this effort, a critical component is the efficient administration of justice. The Supreme Court, whose members are preoccupied with backstabbing and selfish interests, should give more attention to speeding up lower courts’ resolution of cases especially those involving misdemeanors.

It shouldn’t require rocket science for the Supreme Court to design a system of resolving court cases with reasonable speed. If the SC finds this impossible for serious offenses such as murder and plunder, it should be possible at least for ordinance violations handled by the lower courts. Deadlines can be set and strictly followed for issuing commitment orders in such cases.

At the same time, lawmakers who profess to support President Duterte’s anti-crime campaign should work with the executive in improving facilities for detention and correction nationwide. Fighting crime does not stop at accosting or arresting shirtless men in the streets. The criminal justice system has several elements, all of which must be working efficiently to ensure the long-term success of any anti-crime campaign.