Page 1 of 16

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 02

March 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 155

Preferential Treatment in Prisons

(A Comparative Analysis with India and the Philippines)

Jhino Bautista Ilano

International Studies and Allied Programs, College of Arts and Sciences, San Beda College Alabang

8 Don Manolo Blvd., Alabang Hills Village

Alabang, 1770 Muntinlupa City

Philippines

Email: jhino_ilano@yahoo.com; jhino22@gmail.com

Abstract

Philippine prisons have not been given much

attention by academics, as a result a limited

knowledge of people about this closed and

regulated structure of society.

The New Bilibid Prison was mandated

to rehabilitate those that have committed

wrong to allow a smooth resocialization

process to society. However this mandated

function has not been fully performed.

Instead there is another structure that

dominates and destroys the purpose of

rehabilitation. This is the phenomenon of

Preferential Treatment, here the elite

prisoners becomes above the law instead of

being under the law. This phenomenon

allows the wealthy and politically powerful

inmates to still indulge themselves in the

luxuries of the free world, defeating the

purpose of rehabilitation. These wealthy

inmates can allow themselves to get

whatever they want provided that they will

give something in return of the perks and

privileges being extended to them by those

in authority. This phenomenon can be traced

from the lapses that came after the shift from

a strict to a more lenient way of managing

our prison system. The study will provide

you with a comprehensive workings and

dynamics of an inmates’ life and the inner

working of our country’s national

penitentiary. There will also be a

comparison of special treatments received

by inmates from India and whether it

conforms to the Standard Minimum Rules

for the Treatment of Prisoners. This

phenomenon has not been studied

systematically and has disrupted the

rehabilitation process it also provides a

snapshot of how inequality, injustice and

power relations are mirrored in our prison

system. The scrutiny of this phenomenon

aims to the reformulation of the prison

system and can act as an indicator of the

state’s inadequacy in the administration of

justice which can be used as a basis for the

reformulation of the country’s penal system.

The study will utilize John Rawls and

A. Sen ideals on justice and equality, and

also the Standard Minimum Rules for the

Treatment of Prisoners1

to identify and

compare whether the New Bilibid Prisons

conforms to the international standards for

prison rehabilitation.

Keywords: Preferential Treatment, Equality,

Justice, Penal System, Philippines, India

1

This came from the First United Nations Congress

on the Prevention of Crimes and Treatment of

Offenders, Geneva 1955.

Page 2 of 16

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 02

March 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 156

Traditionally Prison institutions are

“utilized by any local criminal justice

system for detention, and possible for

punishment of those brought before it

(Carter, Glaser, & Wilkins, 1963: 3).” This

means that the prison system is for the

confinement of those who have to undergo

judicial and administrative proceedings. The

prison system as an institution has the

following primary functions of Reductivism

and Retributivism.

Reductivism is a function of prison

that can be seen as forward-looking, since

the focus of prison here is to reduce the

incidence of crime (Harlan, 1996). This

function of prison can be seen under Jeremy

Bentham’s perspective that punishment do

reduce the number of crime because the pain

and unhappiness they will get from doing a

crime outweighs the benefit they will get if

they commit the crime, then for sure they

will not do the crime (Harlan, 1996).

Retributivism on the other hand is the

principle that people must be punished

because they deserve to be punished

(Harlan, 1996). This function is exactly the

opposite of Reductivism since it looks at the

past act committed by the prisoner in order

to identify the punishment due him.

Philippine Prisons was established

under the Reductivist function, where in it

would implement punitive punishment in

order to reduce the occurrence of crimes.

This can be affirmed by execution in the

electric chair, dungeon-kept imprisonment

with food-deprivation (National Archives

Document), and “bartolina” treatment which

are all forms of callous punishment. The

impositions of such punishments are aimed

towards instilling fear and mindset that life

inside prisons is harsh and difficult.

However due to the change of tides, that

prisons can also eliminate crimes through

rehabilitative programs paved the way for

the creation of a prison institution that looks

at the rehabilitation of those that has done

wrong to society. As a result the Old Bilibid

Prison was renamed to the New Bilibid

prison wherein there is a shift from a very

strict and harsh prison environment to a

more lenient and positive administration of

prison. But instead of creating a more

positive outlook the shift provided an

avenue for lapses in the implementation of

rules and guidelines in the treatment of

inmates, leading to authorities taking rules

for granted and eventually inmates abusing

authorities, this phenomenon came to be

known as preferential treatment.

Preferential treatment in Philippine

prison remains to be one of the unexplored

issues in our society today. Preferential

treatment did not only remain talked about

inside prison but soon after became more

public. Most articles written about

preferential treatment are gossips in news

columns, slowly becoming the content of

formal news. Given the fact that preferential

treatment is a favorite topic of news writers

indicates the need to have a careful look at

this phenomenon. Despite the media hype

on preferential treatment people still know

less about this issue. Preferential treatment

is not only present in our major prisons but

also in city and provincial jails thus again

making it a public issue. These journalistic

articles written about preferential treatment

Page 3 of 16

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 02

March 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 157

can indeed help in opening the eyes of the

public to this issue however it does not

suffice for a deeper and clearer

understanding of preferential treatment. This

insufficiency encourages the initiative to

further look into the public but unexplored

issue of preferential treatment.

The New Bilibid Prison has been

known because of its famous prisoners who

belong to the elite class of society. The

presence in prison of these elites (rich and

politically influential) would somehow mean

that justice is still served by our judicial

system. As a common perception of most

people that being rich and/or politically

influential does not exclude them from

judicial orders if convicted. But people are

misled; the presence of these elites2

simply

veils the reality that they do still enjoy in the

luxuries of the free world and is not under

the law. The phenomenon is already known

to the public however the extent and gravity

of such, remains unknown. As such the

author aimed to expose the extent and depth

of this phenomenon.

This public issue puts the reputation

of our national penitentiary system in

jeopardy. This present situation calls for an

examination of such dealings and

circumstances inside our penitentiary system

specifically in our prison institutions. It also

calls for a look at these prisoners, the

wealthy and politically influential, the prison

guards, and the prison officials of our prison

institution, to determine why such

manifestations of preferential treatments

occur.

2

Whenever the term “elite” is used, it would refer to

the rich and politically influential prisoners.

Philippine Prison: Bureau of Correction

“The New Bilibid Prison”

The Bureau of Corrections is the

main penitentiary in the Philippines and

houses more than 20,000 plus inmates (as of

June 2009). In terms of the inmates

breakdown we can see that majority of

inmates are from the maximum security

camp which houses 12,279 prisoners second

is medium with 7,854 and last is minimum

security camp with 561 inmates. The

number here shows that majority of inmates

are those with sentence of 20 years and

above.

Process of Rehabilitation

The main objective of rehabilitation

or the purpose of confinement for a person

committed to prison is to separate him from

society, wherein he is expected to realize the

wrong he has done against society, through

which will allow him to be a responsible and

law-abiding citizen. As stated in the manual

of the Bureau of Corrections it “shall

undertake rehabilitation and treatment

programs to help an inmate lead a

responsible, law-abiding and productive life

upon release.” The institution is also

delegated with the task of ensuring an

optimum balance between the security of the

prison and the effectiveness of treatment

programs.

The rehabilitation and treatment of

inmates shall be focused on providing

services that will encourage and enhance the

inmate’s self-respect, self-confidence,

personal dignity and sense of responsibility.