GUSTAVO F.

DALEN PRACTICUM 1
4-SS

UNDERSTANDING CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCE OF

PROLONGED TRIAL DETENTION
Emperical Evidence and Proposed Solution
By Dr. Reynaldo Narag

REACTION

Dr. Narag was a victim, who experience a miserable poor

conditions of detention. He was a pre-trial detainee that has to contend
with inhumane or degrading treatment for more than 6 years, and later
on acquitted for a crime he did not actually commit, however such
incarceration gave a long-lasting consequence on him.

That experience compelled him and gave him a purpose in life,

and that is to understand the causes of prolonged trial detention and
what may be the utmost solution to such problem.
Detainees stay in jail while undergoing trial for cases that are not
bailable, and if bailable cannot afford to secure such payment, as a
result amounts to overcrowding in detention jails to more than 502% of
which 1 cell would accommodate on average 10 inmates. Under this
conditions disease and violence frequently occur and sometimes
death. 40 detainees die each month. Furthermore, he also discovered
not only the poor conditions of detainee, but what it meant for the
government. It has a big effect on government in terms of operational
cost of detention jails in the entire Philippines. As Dr. Narag would say
“It takes longer to be acquitted than convicted”
To determine the factors related to prolonged trial, he has to
understand by using a combination of jail official data and discussion
and interviews with inmates, court actors, and jail officers. The data
suggests the importance of organizational and cultural dynamics that
lead to the delay of cases for detained defendants, he particularly
described criminal justice systems as loosely coupled when the
different subcomponents, such as the police, prosecutions, courts,
pretrial services, and corrections, are independent and autonomous
from each other.

The failure of inmates to coordinate their own hearings meant

delays and lengthy detention. Inmates without the capacity to do these
are more likely to stay in jail longer.

Dr. Narag also hinted organizational and cultural variables.

 Organizational - judges should develop tighter coordination and

sharing of information with the prosecutors, pretrial services, and
 defense lawyers. Judges should establish firm managerial
control over calendar of hearings and continuances and set the
tone for speedy case disposition.
 Cultural - The court and other criminal justice actors may develop
courtroom narratives that emphasize tight coupling and crime
control values and which are then utilized to justify behaviors that
speed up case proceedings. This eventually cultivates a court
culture that emphasizes the speedy disposition of cases.

Dr. Narag discussed a theory of guidance, referring to Sensitizing

concepts. By taking proactive steps is the essence of speedy
disposition cases and shorter detention, the importance of coordination
and sharing of information among the courts, prosecutors, defense
lawyers, police witnesses, and the jail officers, making sure that
everyone is on the same page so the daily proceedings progress
smoothly.

Theory based recommendation to speed up the disposition of

cases were discussed by Dr. Narag.

1. Court actors must learn skills on how to make each dependent

on one another;
2. Court actors must overcome the ingrained culture of
purposeful delay of cases.
3. The Office of the Court Administrator (OCA), which has
administrative supervision of all the courts in the Philippines,
should monitor the compliance of the courts on the speedy
disposition of cases.
4. These efforts should be implemented with urgency.
Through Dr. Narag’s recommendation and guidance, we have
made great strides in improving and developing our legal system to
eliminate Prolong Trial Detention but with minimal advancement. We
only have begun and we hope that the system may be appreciated by
our judges and justices, and soon be inculcated or implemented in our
judicial system in the entire Philippines.