Philippines adopts Nelson Mandela Rules for its prisons after reforming its judicial and penal system

The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (or Nelson Mandela Rules) are adopted as part of the Philippine prison and penal reform, where prisoners will benefit from adequate conditions without discrimination based on their legal status, as well as less prison overcrowding, better health care, comprehensive disciplinary measures, and support for education and vocational training.

Conditions in Philippine detention centres, which have been described as “inhumane” by one of the country’s Supreme Court judges, are expected to improve dramatically as the Southeast Asian nation moves toward adopting standards that focus on the human rights and dignity of inmates.

On the eve of Nelson Mandela International Dayheld annually on July 18, we tell you what you need to know about the Rules and what is being done to implement them.

Humanely

The Nelson Mandela Rules, named after the former South African president who was wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years, are playing a key role in prison and penal reform in the Philippines.

The purpose of the Rules is ensure that all prisoners are treated with respect and dignity and are not discriminated against. The environment in which these prisoners are housed is essential for this requirement.
The Philippines ranks alongside the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Uganda in terms of prison congestion, with detainees living in chronically overcrowded and overcrowded facilities.

Manila City Jail houses about 3,200 men in a facility that can accommodate 1,200, and the men are “packed in like sardines,” according to Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh, a situation she has called “inhumane.”

The prison, which houses mainly people on remand, was built in 1867. Temperatures in the crowded dormitories can reach 40 degrees Celsius, so it does not meet the requirements of the “pay due attention to weather conditions and, in particular, to air volume, minimum surface area, lighting, heating and ventilation.”

Healthcare

Although the Manila City Jail is the symbol of what needs to change in the Philippines, progress is being made in other prisons, especially in terms of health care, one of the central points of the Rules, which stipulate that “Prisoners must enjoy the same levels of health care available in the community and must have free access to health care services. necessary, without discrimination based on their legal status.”

Female inmate at Iligan prison during a medical consultation.

Safety and dignity

Maintain safe conditions for both prisoners and prison staff, as well as apply disciplinary measures that respect human dignity and avoid torture or other forms of inhuman treatmentare other key elements of the Nelson Mandela Rules.

The new prison in Marawi, Philippines, is located on a hill overlooking the city and surrounding mountains.

The Philippines’ newest prison, the Marawi City Jail in Mindanao, was built with the Rules in mind and opened in May 2024. It replaces the city’s old jail, which was destroyed in a five-month Islamist insurgency in 2017.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which is the official custodian of the Rules, provided technical support to the Office of Jail Management and Penology during the process of establishing the proper conditions for the new facility, including reviewing the infrastructure design, creating a library, providing security training, and assessing inmates.

The prison library in Marawi, Philippines, has a good collection of law books.

Education

The prison intends Supporting the social reintegration of prisoners by offering them education, vocational training and other programsas outlined in the Regulations. Instructors from Mindanao State University (MSU) will teach classes and students from the university’s law school will assist inmates with their cases, which could help speed up the legal process. Inmates will also be able to consult legal texts in the newly equipped library, as well as read the rules in Tagalog, one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the Philippines.

The new court in the centre, where the first hearing was held at the end of June, will also contribute to a faster resolution of cases.

The faster resolution of cases is expected to prevent the prison from becoming overcrowded. “Hopefully the influx of prisoners will be equal to the influx of those leaving,” said Renato Reynaldo Roales, UNODC national programme officer based in Mindanao.
The first 50 inmates were moved to the new prison in June, and four were released after appearing in court in prison that same week. The expectation is that the Marawi prison will become the model for modern detention centers in the Philippines, while thehttps://www.unodc.org/unodc/justice-and-prison-reform/nelsonmandelarule… country continues to reform its judicial and penal system.

Roales said more prisoners, both those awaiting trial and those already convicted, would benefit from the introduction of the Nelson Mandela Rules, based on the principle that “the only thing a prisoner should be deprived of is his liberty.”

Some facts about the Nelson Mandela Rules

• They were approved by the UN General Assembly in December 2015.
• They are the universally recognized model for good prison management in the 21st century.
• There are currently 38 States that have joined the Group of Friends of the Nelson Mandela Rules, which focuses on the implementation of the Rules. The Philippines joined the Group in 2023.
• UNODC supported the development and is custodian of the Rules

More information about the Rules here