In the Philippines, families of persons deprived of liberty undergo intrusive search to visit their detained loved ones — even though this runs counter to international rules on prisons
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.At around 12:40 pm on January 5, in Camp Bagong Diwa, she had her packed food inspected and logged her name in the security area as part of the protocols to enter the jail. It was supposedly a regular routine, so when one of the jail officers brought out a waiver and asked her to sign it, she questioned the document’s purpose.
Due to the pressure and her desire to visit her father, she eventually signed the document and underwnt a body search, too. But in the waiver, Cath said she added the word “UP” or under protest, to indicate her objection to the intrusive policy. “It is disturbing that jail officers should make up lies and single out visitors of political prisoners to pressure them into signing waivers that have become an instrument of coercion,” political prisoners support group Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said.
“Body cavity searches shall be conducted only by qualified health-care professionals other than those primarily responsible for the care of the prisoner or, at a minimum, by staff appropriately trained by a medical professional in standards of hygiene, health and safety,” section 2 states. Former PDL-turned-criminology professor and prisons expert Raymund Narag supported Lim’s claim and told Rappler that the intrusive search in jails had existed before. In fact, he said that when he was incarcerated between 1995 to 2002 in Quezon City Jail, his then-unmarried sister was also subjected to body and cavity search.
But it was revealed during BuCor’s budget deliberations in September 2024 that the promised review has yet to be implemented. The bureau and the CHR blamed each other for the delay because the bureau claimed that review was “subject to suggestions from the CHR on how to effectively implement safety measures.” (For its part, the CHR said it offered “technical assistance” to the bureau, which means it will provide recommendations based on the guidelines that will be provided by the BuCor.
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