Rights under Lockdown: Not Releasing Vulnerable Prisoners in the Time of a Pandemic is a Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

• Main Author: Temprosa, Francis Tom
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2020
• Subjects: Convention Against Torture; Covid-19; Human Rights; Phillipines; Prisons; Criminal Law; Human Rights Law
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/ateneo-school-of-law-pubs/47; http://www.mjilonline.org/rights-under-lockdown-not-releasing-vulnerable-prisoners-in-the-time-of-a-pandemic-is-a-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading-treatment-or-punishment/
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

This argues that the non-release of vulnerable prisoners in this time of a pandemic constitutes a cruel; inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment; a grave violation of the Torture Convention in international law. With the quick and far-reaching spread of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19; prisoners are among the most vulnerable people in the world. Prisoners face the real danger of COVID-19 while being held in environments that make basic health measures of personal protection and distancing impossible. While the situations of prisons; jails; and other detention centers in each country differs; there could be instances when the danger of being afflicted with the disease is grave and imminent in all carceral States.