Inside The Largest Women's Prison in the Philippines | Free Doc Bites

I have a child waiting for me and nobody is sending it to school now that's why I started working as a housemade in the first place to be able to send my child to school we're just poor people my husband is unemployed it hurts what happened to me really hurts I really didn't do the crime they're accusing me of I didn't expect this would happen to me because I'm a good mother I'm a good housekeeper I worked for a family for four years I took care of their children but it was someone else who complained about me it was our neighbor there's been a dispute since way back between our neighbor's family and my husband that's why this happened to [Music] me guilty or innocent it's a question that guards never have to worry about it is normal for those PDL committed here to say that they are innocent it is normal for them to get emotional but um are not here for nothing they need to face the consequences of the crimes they committed everyone is equal before the law no matter where in the world they are serving time and what rules apply there after isolation a very different world awaits Rowena the prisoners of the Philippines Correctional Institution for Women are released so to speak into the actual prison into a world all its own with its own set of rules and full of potential female offenders during the day even in the high security Wing they are all allowed to move around freely who was convicted of what the other pdls here haven't got a clue no matter in which track building which secluded Corner everything is free accessible the only way to check that everyone is still there every [Music] day constant counting 37 39 40 41 42 43 44 the officers count all the prisoners five times a day it's the only way they can keep track of everything 1 2 3 4 [Music] 5 out Nam nine in the kitchen One D Cel kitchen and One D Cel D Cel then two in Squad disciplinary cell yes then in the kitchen and also Squad as soon as even a single prisoner is missing the guards follow a clear protocol so immedi so we make a report immediately and then we pass it on to our officer of the day officer of the day then the officer of the day will report this to our Superior officer report Superior officer we will also do a recount until we find where she's gone she might just be somewhere in the area if she's not found within 24 hours then we declared the PDL missing The Disappearance of a PDL a person deprived of Liberty would be a disaster for the prison but there's one thing the guards also fear an uprising even when everything seems [Music] peaceful there are over 3,000 pdls throughout the entire prison under the control of just 20 guards per shift it's a daily [Music] challenge the so-called locator charts are most important for orientation to determine who is where they hang outside each dorm each prisoner has to attach a specially made tag to the Chart it shows where they are supposedly located whether this is true or not nobody really [Music] knows because keeping the many buildings under constant control is literally impossible the area is gigantic and like in the outside world Money Rules here among other things there are countless shops where you can buy almost anything from bananas to fish to snacks the prison allows each prisoner personal possessions worth up to 2,000 Philippine Pesos in cash roughly €35 everything beyond that is managed like a bank by the prison prices are roughly the same as on the outside sometimes a little higher and the selection is surprisingly large besides fresh vegetables and sweets there are also canned goods ice cream and hygiene products even fresh baked goods all this in one of the toughest women's prisons in the world in which everyone struggles every single day to see how big a piece of the pie they can get it doesn't matter if you were born in the Philippines or abroad like 32-year-old Debbie the South African has been in prison for 9 years now for drug smuggling more precisely for cocaine there is one thing she does Above All Play by the rules in the morning we have to wake up all at 5:30 no one is allowed to lay down after that then we will have our morning prayer after morning prayer we will be allowed to have a shower for 10 minutes and then we will have a TC morning meeting it's like a therapeutic meeting where we will uh talk about the problems in the dorm and we will have news casting people who will have news reports and then after that we will have counting even at night Debbie does not have a single quiet moment she has to share her bed with a stranger we have to move slow to respect one another also when sleeping especially like for me I'm Foreigner I'm very tall more bigger than my partner next to me so I think I'm taking most of the space on the bed but it's it's hard especially because it's a very small space example for the bed when we sleep half of the bed is mine and half of the bed is her in the beginning it's very hard to accept because I'm used to sleeping in my own position sleeping freely but now I had to get used to sleeping with someone and to have my uh space limited the prison has been overcrowded for a long time although the area is huge more than three times as many women live in the numerous wings as originally planned those who aren't lucky enough to get a bed sleep on the floor there are however privileged pdls who get a single bed the elderly the sick and prisoners in management position positions often there is not even enough space for personal belongings they are stacked up in boxes in the hallway and under the beds inside there'll be precious memories of the family and everything else one needs to survive in my box I will have an extra blanket then my t-shirts and some sandals and Wells and then apart from the box we are allowed to have a shower basket which is always under my bed everything has to fit in there it's hard because if it doesn't fit either you have to give it away or you have to find a way to push it inside outside I'm used to having a very comfort able life I have my own room I have my storage area a coverboard a very big coverboard with have enough space and then now it's like it's so limited a very small box only 50 L is the maximum because the space is occupied because we have so many pdls uh we have about 124 Only In This Storm it's all part of daily life in the largest women's prison in the Philippines and there are no exceptions no matter what gender whether still in pre-trial custody or already convicted the conditions are essentially the same those who have money make their lives as bearable as possible those who don't have to fight for clean drinking water select pdls often help by supporting the guards they have their own set of rules partially made by by the prisoners themselves

Channel: Free Doc Bites

Views: 70,948

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, Short Documentary, Short Docs, Documentary (TV Genre), Documentary - topic

Id: fwW0DsjfoYQ

Length: 12min 3sec (723 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 12 2023