Philippines to overhaul ‘inhumane’, overcrowded jailsPhilippine officials said on Tuesday the government would build new jails to address severe congestion made worse by President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, describing conditions as “inhumane” and “unacceptable”. “It’s a modern facility and we want it to be on par with other jails in Southeast Asia,” Xavier Solda of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology told AFP. Interior secretary Ismael Sueno told AFP the government would allocate funds to build new jails, with 80 percent of new detainees accused of drug-related crimes resulting from Duterte’s crackdown. Quezon City officials Monday signed an agreement to donate land to the national government for a new prison. Seeing inmates sleep on top of each other because of the lack of space, I feel it’s a violation of human rights, an urgent matter that must be addressed,” Belmonte told AFP.

Source: Manila Bulletin August 09, 2016 11:35 UTC