It is my core concern to share my story, in pursuit of any assistance you might give to help my present situation here in the Philippine National Prison. I am a Nigerian from Abatete, Idemili local government area Anambra State. I was trapped here in prison since December 19, 1992.
When I was about to board Thai Airways bound Japan via Thailand on December 19, 1992, I was accused of smuggling two bags containing heroine. The bags are bound to Switzerland via Hongkong with flight number SR177. It happened that my attention was called and was asked about the ownership of the said bags. The police stopped me from boarding my plane. I believe that the real owner of the bag was bound to Switzerland which upon the request of the passenger’s manifest, his name was there. After paying the police, the police did everything to thwart the story and the actual incident. According to them I was also a passenger of Swiss Air Flight Number SR177. But my name was never in the passenger’s manifest of the said flight as accused. They never found any flight ticket of Swiss Air in my possession contrary to their accusation. I was accused by the police with their fabricated story and I was detained. After the investigation of one Captain Morino, he informed me that he has not found any reason to keep me but before he lets me go and recommends me to be deported with the next available flight, I have to pay US$5000 I said, where will I find such an amount after I was robbed of everything in my possession, name it, cash, jewelry and other material things.Even my used brief was taken by the police. How then will i be able to carry excess luggage of more or less 11 kilograms without any cent to pay. No money, no checkbook, was presented in the court during my trial, when I am faced beyond shadow of doubt. Accused of carrying baggage weighing 31 kilogram with economy class ticket where only 20 kilograms is allowed. Luggage of 11 kilograms excess was to be paid. Accused of going to Switzerland via Hong Kong with flight number SR177, without air ticket, without my name in the flight passenger manifest, without a transit or entrance visa that should be found in my passport. While the real owner of the bag was able to pay and was able to buy himself freedom, I got stuck here without hope of seeing my family again. I have been missing them for the past 15 years. My present condition here in the Philippine National Prison is really hard and torturing. This is called the Bureau of Corrections but there was never a measure of correctional beatitude. Once committed here, you will just wait for the hour of your death. For us, this place is called “a graveyard of the living dead”. Every day, prisoners die here. We are more or less twelve thousand two hundred in this place, crowded and starving. Some prisoners would just attack another inmate for them to be killed, as the prison guard would instantly shoot them. The same people (prison guards) are cohorts for the trouble as they earn from supplying deadly weapons such as flip knives, “balisong” and hand guns to the prisoners. We are grouped here with the gang structure. There are twelve gangs in the maximum security compound. With this gang fraction, several incidents have occurred which took innocent lives. Without proper investigation and without the bureau knowing, some prison guards are members of the gangs and have been participating in the outrage and conflicts that involve stabbing and shooting.
Shall I negate the general kitchen system, food for the prisoners are manipulated by the officers concerned. From the real supply, only a few amount will reach each prisoner. amount that is not even enough to sustain their hunger, thus leading to illness. And when they reach the hospital, there is no medication even the free medicines provided for the inmates are corrupted and sold at a cost. All the organization donating goods and medicines are not aware that their donations are corrupted by department officials. The administration is even worse than ever. If you don’t have money to bribe the officers, no attention will be given to your requests, especially if you are a foreigner. We are made to provide our needs by our own selves. Some of us who cannot afford to would end up dead. Then the administration’s so called doctors will manufacture alibis to justify their corruption and negligence. We prisoners have no opportunity to reach the right people with competency and ability to help us out of this trap. They claim that this is a correctional institution but the implementation of prison terms is still very harsh as it was in the beginning. The rules are more than seventy years old and were never ratified to suit the correctional term of imprisonment as to human rights, which was declared in Geneva Convention, which was part of this country’s law in 1987 rules of court, yet never been a part of human treatment in their correctional ethics. In my situation, being here for fifteen yeas wasn’t easy. I lost almost all my family, relatives, friends, worst of all, suffering from a life threatening illness without any medication as I do not have any source of support for my personal needs. I lost my parents seven years ago, and probably due to starvation, since I am the only breadwinner in the family, nobody was left to assist and help them. My wife and kids are nowhere to be found and no trace of them. My writing here is to seek for humanity and to enable me to gain my freedom and belief that one mistake that took more than a third of your life should be forgiven, recalling it as we are all humans. I seek to be extended humanitarian consideration for my freedom. And please send my letter to our president.
Thanks very much and I hope to hear from you. I don’t want to die here, please help me.
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