Contact with the outside world

All prisoners have the right to receive visits

no

The possibility for visits varies from facility to facility. Prison administrators limit visitation rights because of the overcrowding, which can lead to problems of space and security. The status of the prisoner also plays a role, in practice. Political prisoners are subjected to restrictions on their visitation rights.
The isolated location of many prisons limits the possibility for visits. Families don’t have the means to travel the distance necessary. The Iwahig prison farm is located 600 km from Manila, which is where some of the prisoners resided. Families are authorised to come and stay. Today, 20 families still live in the facility1.
Facilities sometimes suspend visiting rights in the wake of riots.


  1. Life inside the Philippines’ prison without walls in Al Jazeera, 7 October 2015. 

Conjugal visits are allowed

yes

The wives of men detained at New Bilibid can come and spend the night at the prison 1.


  1. Getting along in the overcrowded prisons in the Philippines (Système D dans les prisons surpeuplées des Philippines) in Le Temps, 6 May 2016 (in French).