Kids behind bars – Inside Filipino jails
Hazel Thompson
Eyevine
The 2006 CARE International Award for Humanitarian Reportage sponsored by sanofi-aventis
There are an estimated 68,000 children in Philippine adult prisons throughout one year. Some as young as 9. Most are illegally detained in prison for trivial offences and many are held on mere suspicion with long delays in the justice process. The youngsters are subject to sexual abuse by the guards and other prisoners. The cells are overcrowded with prisoners having to stand while others sleep on the concrete floor. Diseases spread quickly and the children are most vulnerable.
Preview
Working with the charity Jubilee Action to expose the abuse of the children’s human rights for their global report & campaign ‘ Kids Behind Bars- We must Act’. I went undercover posing as an aid worker gaining exclusive access into the Prisons of the Philippines. I was able to capture a set of images that show a reality, where out of society’s sight, children are illegally imprisoned without a voice in conditions that only can be described as ‘Victorian’. I saw children detained in overcrowded prisons and inhabitable conditions. In flooded and damp cells with little light, stifling heat and no fresh air, the children’s health is being affected. Many of the children I saw had skin conditions after being months, even years in these conditions, which is driving them into depression & despair. An adult prison is no place for a child.
Hazel Thompson
