EDITORIAL - Food for thought

Senator Antonio Trillanes made an interesting point in a television interview with Karen Davila about the so-called "special treatment" being accorded his Senate colleagues Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada, now in detention to await trial in connection with the P10 billion PDAF scam.

The "special treatment" of Revilla and Estrada refers to their having their own special quarters, with their own beds, a few pieces of furniture, and their own bathrooms -- spartan accommodations to be sure, but a whole lot better than being thrown into common cells with other detainees.

Asked whether he considers this as special treatment, Trillanes said no. He said the spartan accommodations being enjoyed by Revilla and Enrile are in fact the norm in most other mature democracies where the penal system emphasizes rehabilitation and the preservation of human dignity.

What should be done, according to Trillanes, is not to reduce the accommodations of Revilla and Estrada into the dog-eat-dog quarters housing the rest of the country's penal system inmates but to uplift conditions in these common cells to the same standards now being enjoyed by Revilla and Estrada.

In other words, Revilla and Estrada should not be dehumanized to the level of common prisoners. On the contrary, common prisoners should be humanized to the level of Revilla and Estrada, rehabilitation being easier if human dignity is respected and preserved.

Not only is the point made by Trillanes interesting, it can also actually be done. If the billions of pesos that used to be stolen through such devious means as the PDAF can be rechanneled into more meaningful expenditures, perhaps government can take a cue from Trillanes by improving conditions in all prisons.

As if commonly know, virtually all penal facilities in the country are overcrowded, bursting at the seams with a never ending inflow of fresh offenders needing rehabilitation. But the conditions in these centers for rehabilitation are squalid and, yes, dehumanizing.

Little wonder then that when these inmates serve out their terms and are released to rejoin society, they in all likelihood will revert back to their old ways because they never had a chance to be rehabilitated. In fact, they have only been hardened while inside and may even be worse than when they first came in.