More than 18,000 prisoners have been released in the Philippines since mid-March as in efforts to prevent the coronavirus from spreading among the prison population, the Supreme Court said on Monday.
“Court Administrator Jose Marquez confirms that 18,355 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) have been released from March 17 to May 15, 2020.
“Also 795 videoconferencing hearings of cases of PDLs have been conducted from May 4 to 15, 2020,” the court’s press office tweeted.
Since coronavirus outbreaks often occur in overcrowded prisons, governments across the world began to release inmates to minimise the impact of the pandemic.
After months of enduring lockdown measures, the Philippine government started to ease the restrictions earlier in May, with many enterprises and businesses, including shopping malls, being allowed to reopen and stay-at-home orders in several regions of the country were withdrawn.
The Philippines has so far confirmed over 12,000 COVID-19 cases and 831 coronavirus-related deaths.
