An Update on the Study on the Condition of Jails and Correctional Institutions in the Country Commission on Human Rights
An Update on the Study on the Condition of Jails and Correctional Institutions in the Country
Commission on Human Rights
Universal standards applicable to everyone have been established with respect to prohibitions that exist in national and international laws against any form of treatment or punishment which violates human rights or fundamental freedoms. Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The same principle embodied in the declaration was enforced and sustained with the adoption of the International Convention on the subject, entered into forced in 1987 by the UN Assembly. Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution specifically provides that the State values human dignity and guarantees full respect for human rights. This underscores that all persons are born with human dignity and inherent rights and that no one loses his dignity and these rights regardless of what he or she may have done. This policy of the state applies particularly to the treatment of prisoners and detainees under the correctional system they are in. Thus to ensure enforcement of this basic human rights policy, the Commission on Human Rights is mandated to “exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons and detention facilities” as stipulated in the Philippine Constitution. Hence, the Commission using both national and international standards on the treatment of prisoners and detainees and in investigating and monitoring the conditions they are in conducts on regular basis the spot checking of conditions obtaining in the various correctional institutions/ facilities in the country.
This report is a consolidation of the study on the conditions of jails and correctional institutions in the country undertaken in 1992, the reports on the regular visits undertaken by the regions over the years and the special visits in national penitentiaries conducted by the
Commission on Human Rights
Universal standards applicable to everyone have been established with respect to prohibitions that exist in national and international laws against any form of treatment or punishment which violates human rights or fundamental freedoms. Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The same principle embodied in the declaration was enforced and sustained with the adoption of the International Convention on the subject, entered into forced in 1987 by the UN Assembly. Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution specifically provides that the State values human dignity and guarantees full respect for human rights. This underscores that all persons are born with human dignity and inherent rights and that no one loses his dignity and these rights regardless of what he or she may have done. This policy of the state applies particularly to the treatment of prisoners and detainees under the correctional system they are in. Thus to ensure enforcement of this basic human rights policy, the Commission on Human Rights is mandated to “exercise visitorial powers over jails, prisons and detention facilities” as stipulated in the Philippine Constitution. Hence, the Commission using both national and international standards on the treatment of prisoners and detainees and in investigating and monitoring the conditions they are in conducts on regular basis the spot checking of conditions obtaining in the various correctional institutions/ facilities in the country.
This report is a consolidation of the study on the conditions of jails and correctional institutions in the country undertaken in 1992, the reports on the regular visits undertaken by the regions over the years and the special visits in national penitentiaries conducted by the