Bilibid prison south of Manila is home to around 26,000 inmates. Hundreds die of disease and stabbing.

Prison hospital chief says about 5,200 die in Bilibid each year, mostly from infectious diseases.

More than 5,000 inmates at a maximum security jail in the Philippines, or around 20% of all inmates, die each year, a Filipino prison hospital chief has claimed.

Ernesto Tamayo of the national Bilibid prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa, a few kilometres south of Manila, said that the “mortality rate is 20%” for the jail’s population of around 26,000, with most of the deaths occurring due to infectious diseases in overcrowded cells.

Rappler reported that Tamayo attributed many of the deaths to pulmonary tuberculosis, a highly contagious disease that can easily spread in crowded conditions. He said that stabbings also contributed to the high death rate.

Tamayo made the claim on Thursday at a senate hearing on the Good Conduct Time Allowance law, which allows the early release of prisoners for positive behaviour. Following the claim, senate president Vicente Sotto III was quoted as saying: “We don’t need [the] death penalty anymore.”

Woeful prison conditions in the Philippines, which has not had the death penalty since 2006 despite some politicians calling for its return, have been highlighted by the hearing.

Last month it was reported by Rappler that one hospital ward in the NBP, which has been criticised by the United Nations as well as Filipino authorities, did not provide showers for inmates. Prisoners washed with water poured from drums.

Godfrey Gamboa, a former inmate at the NBP, claimed that many prisoners there died due to being given food that had gone bad. “A lot of them die because most of the food is already spoiled. They get weak,” he said.

Ursicio Ceñas, a doctor at the NBP, was accused of taking bribes from influential prisoners in exchange for granting them extended access in the hospital section, away from the main prison areas.

Serial killers and high-profile drug lords have been detained in the NBP, where around 43% of inmates are incarcerated for homicide and physical injury-related crimes.