I am a detainee. I have the right to escape.
I have the right to protect myself from the dehumanization of my jail cell. I have the right to basic provisions of food, clothing and beddings. I have the right to keep myself free from diseases like tuberculosis, boils and other dreaded illness.
This I assert because of my present situation. More than a hundred of us live in a dark and musty cell that could ideally accommodate ten persons. The air we breathe reeks with the smell of bodies not taking a bath for days. We have to sleep near the toilets or under the beds at the mercy of the cold floor. The food we eat—we make do with one match box size of pork for lunch and a cut of squash for dinner.
I have the right to life. But at the rate that I am going, I will surely die, if not in a month’s time, perhaps in a year. Because as I stay here a minute longer, my health deteriorates. And I won’t just let myself slip to oblivion. I shall shield myself from the harm inflicted upon my person. I shall free myself from this hellhole.
I have the right to escape. I have the right to keep myself sane. Because even if I survive, definitely, I will become a crazy person. For to live without nothing to do but to count the bars, to let the day pass by sitting in the dark corners, to be in the company of similarly emaciated persons— these have totally compromised my mental health. As of the moment, I hear sounds in my head— sounds of despair and hopelessness. I hear whispers egging me to go to far more beautiful places.
I have the right to escape and be treated innocent. I am a detainee and still under going trial. No less than the Constitution guarantee that I should be presumed not guilty. I should be accorded all the entitlements of a free citizen.
But look at what had happened to me. I had been condemned before I could even be tried. My face has been plastered in the media as the person to be hanged. In the public, I had long been judged guilty. And I am very afraid that this ties the court to give me a fair and impartial trial.
I submitted myself voluntarily to the authorities so that the Court will be the one to declare me innocent. I surrendered myself to the folds of the law knowing and trusting that by undergoing the whole process, the truth will set me free. But how could the truth now be on my side, when the very venue is compromised?
I have the right to escape because my case has not progressed. Again, the Constitution said that I am entitled to a speedy trial. There is even a law that says I should be staying in jail no longer than eleven months under preventive detention. But the reality is: I had been languishing in jail for three long years but up until now, my case has not yet moved from arraignment. It takes at least three months before I could have a hearing which is almost always postponed, for reasons so simple, yet too daunting.
I have the right to escape, especially now that the defense lawyer advised me to plead guilty just so I could avail of a lower penalty. I was advised to change plea because the reality is: I already served the maximum imposable penalty should I be found guilty of a lower offense. But that would be tantamount to abandoning my dignity as a person. What face shall I give my children? It is they who kept the procedures for so long, and now they are asking me to profess guilt? They want me punished because of their own doing?
No I won’t plead guilt. Instead, I am going to run. I will run away for their shenanigans. I will not allow them to corrupt me forever.
Indeed, they are corrupting me. Inside the cells, there are factors that evolved which had made life more miserable especially for the poor and the powerless like me. I had to serve the more affluent inmates just so I could be given some food, I had to follow the strictly imposed rules of the inmate leaders, or else, I’ll be subjected to their disciplinary sanctions. These were resorted to because of the lack of government resources and these were purportedly coping mechanisms. However, it had become a problem on its own: there are many inmates who abused it to further their personal ends. And I had always been against such inequity. I had been vocal against it. As such, I do not fit to this God-forsaken system. And now, the mayores or gang leader sent a word: he is after me. Who shall protect me?
Ah, I have the right to escape. I have the right to be free—free from harm, free from death.
I have the right to escape and I will assert this to the police, jail and court authorities. I shall tell this even to the Chief of Police, the Chief of the Jail Bureau, the Secretary of Justice and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I shall relay this even to the President of the Republic:
I shall exercise my right to escape. And if the jail officers will shoot me, and the police will re-arrest me and the court reorders my detention—that is a violation of my human rights— my right to a decent living, my right to life.
And I ask everyone to please understand me. I just want to keep my case moving so that the end of justice will be served. And this is my appeal in behalf of all my fellow inmates:
If you should punish us— punish us the correct and proper way. Do not punish us by default, where the length of the criminal procedure had become in itself the punishment, because that would mean another injustice if we will be found innocent.
Punish us with a loving justice: one that will free us from the cycle of crime and prepare us to become a responsible member of the society upon release.
Show us you care and I tell you, we know how to replicate one.
PS: If I had successfully made my escape, please don’t file cases of neglect to the jail guards on duty. I tell you, they have nothing to do or they can do about it.
PPS: I shall voluntary surrender again to the jail authorities, the very moment the living conditions of the jail is fit for human habitation and there are programs for reformation. This I promise you.
