Manila : children in prison | M6 | Zone Interdite

Nearly a thousand children are in Manila prisons. In the Philippines, any child over nine can be held. Sometimes for acts of violence or the usual delinquency but often also for the most banal of activities such as running away or even just wearing a tattoo. Once arrested, they find themselves imprisoned in the most terrible conditions. In the Molave prison in Quezon City, they are crowded into three cells of 35 square meters–eighty by cell!! We were able to film children held in Caloocan, in a northern suburb of Manila. Among them, Erwin and Allan, both only ten years old. The first one stole some money for an adult who threatened him. The second took a few soft drinks. In this prison there are children from ten to eighteen years old but also a thousand adults. Within the prison walls, three gangs of prisoners are in control and the guards, even if they’re armed, can’t do anything about it. No one can protect the youngest ones from violence whether sexual or other. The investigation also shows that there are at the present time minors on death ward in the Muntin Lupa National Penitentiary. Even if the Filipino authorities deny it, eight children are currently under threat of the death penalty. Executions, which were suspended for two years, are scheduled to begin again.