Inmates at a crowded Philippines prison climbed on to the roof to protest with raised fists and placards – saying they are not being well fed and demanding the warden’s removal, officials said.
The warden was immediately suspended after the crowd of around 100 prisoners’ noisy demonstration, which ended peacefully as they dispersed on Wednesday morning and were taken back to their cells in Pototan, Iloilo.
They face an investigation and possible disciplinary action, officials added.
Pictures of the rare protest, which showed the inmates on the roof of a building facing a prison gate, where journalists later gathered, were posted on Facebook and quickly drew attention in a country with some of the world’s most congested jails.
One placard read: “We’re hungry, warden get out.”
“They really got attention,” Bureau of Jail Management and Penology spokesman Xavier Solda told The Associated Press, adding that the inmates, who included suspected communist guerrillas and drug offenders, sneaked out of morning prayers and physical exercise under the sun and used a ledge to climb on to the roof in a secretly planned protest.
A handwritten note thrown by the inmates accused authorities of serving them inadequate meals and seizing food brought by relatives to force them to buy meals at a prison shop.
Glass shards had been found in rice rations and rotten fish served, the note said.
Prison officials denied the allegations, which appeared in local news reports, saying the inmates were served three proper meals a day and no complaints were aired until the protest.
Mr Solda said a standard budget of 70 pesos (£1.06) is allotted for the daily meals of each of the more than 1,100 inmates, including the costs of cooking gas, and said officials were always looking for ways to improve conditions at nearly 500 jails across the country.
“We will not dismiss their concerns just because they’re PDLs,” Mr Solda said, using the acronym for ‘persons deprived of liberty’.
“If their concern is food, then definitely we will look into this and if there’s a problem, we will look for solutions.”
The warden the inmates complained about was temporarily relieved for an investigation and replaced with an officer who recently won an award as one of the country’s best jail administrators and would be acceptable to the inmates, he said.
Some of the inmates had opposed their transfer to a new and larger prison building, where the protest was held, from an old and congested detention facility apparently due to stricter security, Mr Solda said.
Jails in the Philippines are at nearly four times their capacity with a congestion rate of 390%, which is an improvement from over 600% some years ago, he said, adding that officials are continuing a programme to build more detention facilities to ease the congestion.
