Jail children suffer abuse, beatings, hunger and disease
The Universe
(July 24, 2005)
He was about eight years old, dirty faced frightened and trembling as he tried to squeeze himself into a corner by the jail cell door and disappear.
Louie had obviously been taken out of the tiny overcrowded adult cell only minutes before we entered. He had been gravely warned by the police not to tell me "or else". The cell must be the smallest most crowded and inhuman on earth.
It is 3 ft wide and 15 ft or so deep. The bodies of the prisoners were piled on top of each other, legs twisted and tangled arms askew. I could not see an inch of the floor, there were 17 inside this cage. Had animals been so confined the owners would have been charged with cruelty.
Buried in the tangled heap of sprawling bodies were two 16-year-olds, a week inside and barely surviving in this hell hole of stifling humidity. How they did not suffocate is a miracle. There is just a tiny opening high on the wall for air and mercifully a rusty old fan hanging from the ceiling churned the putrid air that stank of unwashed bodies. There is no toilet shower, or even a wash basin to relieve the stifling heat. I saw no drinking water.
Louie, I found out, had been arrested the previous night with Roland who said he was 16 but looked a lot younger. They were accused if stealing scrap iron sheets but were so small it would have been practically impossible for them to lift one.
They had not eaten for almost 12 hours and were weak and famished. A rice pot was cooking the nearby stove. "That's for the police," the cool told me. I sent for food to a nearby restaurant and when the chiken and rice arrived Roland and Louie, starving as they were, politely restrained themselves from wildly devouring what was the most precious meal they had ever had. I got them out and into the care of social workers and eventually found them a place in out boys' home.
The previous day I was at two other prisons. In one some of the children were suffering an outbreak of an excruciating skin disease that was driving them insane. The hazards the child prisoners face are numerous; besides rape, sexual abuse and beatings from bullies the youngsters are made slaves working for the guards of the 'elite' prisoners. They are exposed to skin diseases, TB and HIV. Mosquitoes, cockroaches and mites spread infection.
Malnutrition ravages their bodies. The full daily food allowance for each prisoner is 35 pesos, about 35 pence. The kids get the leftovers of the meager rations.
The adults allowed into this wider cell as disciplinarians appeared to be women - but I was mistaken. They were proud to be in control and pranced about in tiny shorts and skimpy vests. One coyly admitted they slept on the floor with the boys or in the curtained cubicles.
When released to the Preda home the kids tell how they fought off sexual advances and were beaten for not co-operating. Many others kids, they said, were forced into sexual acts. I could only shudder at the thought of what could happen to a small boy like Louie.
One bright hope in all this menace and misery is the court house on wheels. This is the idea of Supreme Court Justice R. Puno who had helped change the rules so that minors can be more easily released to the custody of their parents or a home like Preda's. His vans visit jails with a prosecutor, judge and lawyers on board with the authority to quickly access the case and accelerate the release of overstaying prisoners.
It is a bold and inspired initiative in response to the cries of the children for justice and relief. A campaign to help us in this work by Jubilee Action is just beginning - give your love and support for these children. [End]
