Disease, grime and no room AT ALL: Inside the Philippines most notorious prison where 3,600 inmates live in a space built for 800
Eye-opening
images reveal the daily life of 3,800 inmates serving time behind the
crowded walls of a notorious Philippines prison built for just 800.
Prisoners
search for a corner of damp floor to squat against as they sleep, pick
rusty nails and dead cockroaches out of their rations of food and
suffer rashes and boils caused by the lack of ventilation and water.
Inside
Quezon City jail in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, there is a
relentless and constant battle for space, water, food in an unhygienic
facility.
With
160 to 200 inmates crammed into a cell built for 20, men take turns to
sleep on the cracked cement floor of an open-air basketball court, the
steps of staircases, underneath beds and hammocks made out of old
blankets.
The prison was built six decades ago and houses prisoners whose cases are pending, according to the Inquirer.
The
images show the men in their day-to-day life, from bathing themselves
to cooking their food and exercising in close, cramped conditions.
Wearing
their regulation yellow shirts, they also participate in group dancing
contests, taking over the concrete basketball court and the walkway
above.
One
former inmate at the Quezon City jail returned to the prison after
studying criminal justice at the Southern Illinois University in the
United States.
Raymund
Narag says he was 20 when he was accused of a crime he did not commit,
the murder of a young man in the Philippines, according to the GMA Network.
Mr
Narag served seven years, where he said he stayed in a cell with 30
other men instead of the intended five and lived off a diet of dried
fish that he says barely sustained him.
In his book 'Freedom and Death Inside the Jail', Dr Narag details the horrendous living conditions the inmates are subjected to and the fear that consumed him.
‘For almost seven years, I experienced death every waking moment of my life inside the jail,’ he said.
Men are
forced to sleep on any damp floor space they can find or in a squatted
position - which causes some inmates to have a stroke - because of the
severe overcrowding, he said.
Inmates have deemed the food rations served at unusual hours throughout the day and night as 'fit for pigs.'
Dr
Narag said food rations are so small, and often can contain rusty nails
and cockroaches, forcing the men to go hungry or steal other inmates
food..
The
dirty conditions, lack of food, sweltering heat and no ventilation
within the cells causes numerous inmates to become ill or develop
rashes and boils, he said.
‘Inmates
are prone to contagious diseases because of the poor living conditions
in their cells. They sleep in overcrowded, poorly ventilated cells. The
supply of potable water is very limited. Food rations have inadequate
nutritional content. Sick and healthy inmates are grouped in the same
cells.’
‘Every month in Quezon City Jail, around two to five inmates die of illness,' he said.
Severe boredom also causes the men to become depressed and heightens mental health issues.
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