Death or Life in prison
Anne Lanyon"I was in prison and you came to see me" (Matt 25).
Days after young Australian Nguyen Van Tuong's execution in
Singapore in December 2005 and with thoughts of the death penalty on my mind, I
accompanied Conrad and Lydio, two Columban Justice Peace and Integrity of
Creation (JPIC) workers into the Women's Correctional Centre in Manila. The
visit was to bring Christmas cheer to 43 female residents sentenced to death,
mostly on charges of kidnapping, arson, drug offences or murder.
This was a first for me. We were stamped by the guards, luckily allowed to keep our cameras and entered the prison into an open yard with the Catholic chapel at one end and an Evangelical chapel at the other. The brightly dressed women, the cleanliness, and the Christmas decorations allayed my expectations of doom and gloom. The women's ages ranged from 20 to 70 years. I brought with me 100 cakes of soap for their gift bags and Conrad provided food for the lunch.
The visit began fittingly with the Eucharist presided over by the young priest of the JPIC Association which had organised the visit. As we gathered around the Lord's table to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, I could see the suffering etched in the women's faces. As the final blessing to go from the Eucharist to love and serve the Lord was given, I wondered how life and hope could be celebrated when one was in prison under sentence of death?
And celebrate we did! There was dancing, singing, fun, games and conversation over a meal. One lady told me that she was married to a Japanese man and had a small business. When travelling to Japan she was found with drugs in her bag. She had no money to pay lawyers to assist her case. The emcee was a young woman who had a double death penalty for a similar drug case. I spoke with another lady from a wealthy family who was in for murder. She seemed to be saying to me that she was set up with the charge by her husband's second wife's family.
Most stories seemed to be about women caught up in the violence or crime of men close to them, or else in poverty. One lady was a farmer from an island far away. Her husband was involved in a kidnapping. She was arrested as an accessory and both were given the death sentence, leaving her parents and children to maintain the farm.
The women were given a bag of gifts - rice, food, toiletries and clothes. Prison authorities have such a small budget with which to cater for each prisoner, the women have to try to supplement it by making items for sale to visitors or relying on charity.
We were shown the death row dormitory where these women were crowded into a room full of double bunks with no privacy and very little personal space. They have no choice but to stick together and look after each other, but I'm sure that there must have been times when they drove each other crazy!
That day, we signed a petition calling for an end to the death penalty in the Philippines. I was overjoyed to hear recently that it was abolished. What relief it must have been for those 43 women! Now, instead, they are faced with 40 years in prison with no chance of parole.
Again I ask myself how can someone find life and hope when confronted with this sentence - especially when I think that many of these women are victims of an unjust system. As a wife, mother and grandmother, I empathise with their pain.
I am grateful that the women I met in Manila are free from the death penalty, but 40 years without any hope of parole is beyond my comprehension to deal with.
