Since January, 74 inmates dead in congested Laguna jail —report

Seventy-four prisoners have died at the Biñan City Jail since January due to various complications caused by congestion, according to a report by Unang Balita on Tuesday.

The report quoted authorities as saying around 400 prisoners are currently squeezed into the jail facility that can only accommodate as much as 70 people.

Some of the inmates who died had prior conditions before their incarceration while others had weak immune systems as a result of prior drug use.

According to 2015 data of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the Biñan City Jail has an ideal capacity of 22 prisoners but has a total jail population of 369 or with a congestion rate of 1,575 percent.

The situation worsened in 2017 as reports showed that the jail's population went further up to 595 prisoners, a congestion rate of 2,603 percent.

Jail congestion has long been a problem in the Philippines, with the United Nations urging the government in 2015 to address its "chronic" congestion problem that has lead to contagious viral diseases to spread among prisoners across the country. — Rie Takumi/MDM, GMA News