BuCor confirms first COVID-19 case at Bilibid

An inmate at the New Bilibid Prison's medium security compound has tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the first confirmed case of the infectious disease at the national penitentiary.

The male inmate has been confined at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) since April 17, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) said Thursday. He was first brought to the NBP hospital then referred to the RITM.

The bureau made the announcement amid calls for the release of eligible convicted prisoners and pre-trial detainees out of fear that COVID-19 would spread rapidly in the Philippines' overcrowded prisons and jails.

The BuCor earlier said 19 inmates and one staff member at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City had tested positive for COVID-19.

Isolated

Forty inmates at the Bilibid have been isolated following contact tracing that started the day the male inmate was admitted at the RITM. Medical staff who attended to the patient are also under quarantine, the BuCor said.

The isolated inmates have since been transferred to a bigger quarantine area at "Site Harry" for monitoring while they await testing for COVID-19.

BuCor medical personnel are providing "focused medical care" to all suspected cases and those found positive, the bureau said. 

In a move that was opposed by the Muntinlupa government, the BuCor  transferred 18 of the 19 CIW inmates who had tested positive from Mandaluyong to an NBP facility that it claims is safe and far from any residential area. One of the CIW cases, the first, is in a hospital.

The BuCor has so far confirmed COVID-19 cases in two of its seven facilities nationwide. It also runs the Iwahig, Davao, San Ramon, Sablayan prison and penal farms, and the Leyte Regional Prison.

As it looks into calls for the release of "low-risk offenders," the Department of Justice, which supervises correctional facilities, has relaxed rules for the processing of applications for parole and executive clemency among convicted inmates.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which has custody of pre-trial detainees, has also reported cases at the Quezon City Jail. More than a hundred detainees in Cebu City have also tested positive.

The Supreme Court's Office of the Court Administrator has directed lower courts to study their pending criminal cases and order the release of qualified detainees, such as those who have already served the minimum penalty for their alleged offense, under certain conditions. — RSJ, GMA News