Lawyers group offers to help decongest Cebu jails

LEGAL aid and education can help inmates and decongest jails in Cebu City.

This idea was mulled by the Human Rights Unlimited Inc. (HRU),  which has offered to help the Cebu City government reduce the volume of inmates in its jail which is filled to  overcapacity.

The nongovernment organization is offering to help manage and evaluate cases of  inmates. It will also train paralegals  who would  make ‘detainees notes’ to be  submitted to HRU lawyers reviewing their cases.

HRU lawyers will not act as legal counsel of the inmates but will coordinate with the Public Attorney’s Office and public prosecutors. They will also follow up on courts decisions of the detainees’ cases.

“Some inmates have no idea as to what stage their cases are, have no idea of their rights, or of criminal procedure and whether their cases are actually bailable, even if some of them can raise money to post bail,” said lawyer Mary Catherine Alvarez-Del Rosario, HRU program officer.
HRU is a Cebu City-based NGO working for the promotion and protection of human rights through  education.

Del Rosario  wrote to Vice Mayor Labella, who heads the City’s Police Coordinating and Advisory Council (PCAC), in response to the vice mayors call for legal aid for inmates of the Cebu City Jail.

She cited a story published  in Cebu Daily News last January about Labella’s appeal.

According to Cebu City Jail Superintendent Johnson Calub, at least  2,076 cases of inmates  have pending court decisions or are awaiting trial.
There are  186 cases of convicted inmates.