Freedom and Death Inside the Jail.pdf - The Action Program for ...

Inmate Discussions on Police Torture
Police, according to inmates, have a penchant for
torturing suspects to achieve their desired outcome.
Torture comes in different forms—suffocation by plastic,
hitting the penis with a stick, electrocuting the penis,
electric shock, and removing the fingernails. Some of
these lead to summary execution.
According to inmates, the most painful forms of torture
employed by the police include hitting, electrocuting and
making candle wax drip on the penis, electric shock,
rubbing the body with pepper, and dipping a finger in
one’s own wound. Other forms of torture that are just
as traumatic involve the removal of fingernails and the
insertion of an object into the anus.
There are also forms of torture that are not physically
painful but are psychologically draining. These include
Russian Roulette, suffocation by plastic, and the socalled
“water cure” (the suspect’s head is submerged
in water for a long period).
As for summary execution and “salvaging,” paralegal
coordinators point out that there is a difference between
the two. Summary execution is usually done by “selfrighteous”
police officers who take upon themselves the
responsibility of dispensing capital punishment to those
who they consider “useless dregs” of society. Police
officers consider these suspects beyond reformation
and, therefore, it would just be a waste of government
resources to put them in jail where they will have a
chance to regain their freedom and do more crimes.
These individuals deserve nothing less than death.
Salvaging, on the other hand, is done by corrupt
police officers who are members of syndicates. They
“salvage” or execute suspects who threaten to expose
their involvement in the syndicate. The victims here
are usually “burnt-out assets,” or individuals who used
to work for police officers by providing information that
are vital to police operations. Since these assets have
access to confidential information, e.g., corrupt practices
of police officers, they can be “liabilities” later on.
The most common forms of torture that police employ
are: 1.) hitting the fingers with a stick; 2.) forcing the
individual to cling like a bat on the cell bars for an hour
or an entire day; 3.) hitting, electrocuting, and making
candle wax drip on the penis; 4.) electric shock; and
5.) suffocation using plastic. These are commonly
employed since these do not require sophisticated
intruments to be executed. These forms of torture,
no matter how crude, also strike the most fear among
suspects.
The National Bureau of Investigation, the defunct
Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, and
Camp Crame employ other means, usually more
sophisticated, of torturing their suspects. This is
because of the nature of the cases they handle, which
are organized crimes.
There are four reasons, according to paralegal
coordinators, why police employ torture. The first reason
is case-related. The police want to extract a confession
from the suspect. They want the suspect to tell them
who are the other persons involved in the case, e.g.,
the mastermind and the financier. Police also want to
know where the illegal goods are stashed. All these
information are important for the police to build a strong
case against the suspect and, possibly, the syndicate
the latter belongs to.
The second reason is money-related. The police torture
the suspect because the complainant paid them to do
so. This is quite common in homicide cases where the
family of the victim wants justice served according to
their terms. Or, sometimes, the police simply want the
suspect to surrender his things (particularly valuable
possessions) to them.
Police also torture suspects for personal reasons.
Perhaps the suspect gave them a hard time catching
him. Or, worse, the complainant is a relative of one of
the police officers.
Finally, police employ torture as a form of punishment
to the suspect, especially the recidivists (or those who
have been in and out of jail for several times already).
They want the recidivists to finally learn their lesson and
not get involved in any crime again.
Forcing an inmate to cling on the cell bars for hours is
one of the most common forms of torture police
employ to extract information from their suspects.
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