IT should surprise no one that the number of inmates and jail personnel testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 — severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 or Covid-19 — is already in the hundreds. Other communicable diseases — tuberculosis and measles, for example — have spread inside jails in the past, with overcrowding and lack of proper hygiene and sanitation providing the ideal environment for transmission.

The Philippines ranks No. 1 in the world in terms of jail occupancy level — prison population vis-a-vis official prison capacity. Average occupancy level in Philippine jails is more than 500 percent based on figures published by World Prison Brief and quoted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (March 24, 2020). The Cebu City Jail exceeds this level. Jail Superintendent Renante Rubio told Super Balita Cebu that the jail’s capacity is 523 but the facility is holding 6,604 inmates (April 23, 2020). That’s an occupancy level of more than 1,000 percent! Almost four years of war on drugs and illegal gambling, and the slow processing of plea bargaining agreements are major factors that have brought the jail to its current status.