so far this year 83 survivors of the group who set off from gambia a week ago did manage to swim ashore. who also been violent scenes in paris at the start of a nationwide strike police used tear gas on rises he set fire to a truck and smashed windows during a protest against planned pension reforms over 400000 people are thought to have taken part in this across france. and a mass vaccination campaign is underway across samoa a need to contain a measles outbreak that's killed dozens of children all businesses have been ordered shot and people told keep their cars off the road. well that's it for myself and the team here in london coming up next on al-jazeera it will be won a one east looking at how the philippines war on drugs is pushing the country's prisons to breaking point not story coming up in just a couple of minutes stay with us. the with the prime minister. mission is to deliver british on the 31st of october and making this country the

greatest place on a person's departure is delayed but for how long follow would drama of bricks it on al-jazeera. in the philippines president retreat go deter site has declared a war on drugs that left more than 12000 people dead. but they're not the only victims it's also left tens of thousands of people languishing in giles is caught struggle to process a record number of drug arrests but unloveable i thought where am i why am i here i shouldn't be here what is this place. i'm on a one ace we investigate the shocking conditions inside the world's most congested giles and the inmates trying to survive.

it's early in the morning and a full name is rising. in the shadows like thousands of bodies waged into every corner of every inch. welcome to manila city jail one of the most congested prisons in the world 2. we've been given extended access here to find out why chance in the philippines a so overcrowded and to meet the inmates who've been called monsters by their own government. so tell me. the joe missed the story here on the south side jair expressed in here is the jail's chief records office uk even he is shocked by

the conditions here right now based on the united nations minimum standards are ideal capacity should be around $1100.00 inmates but the actual jail population right now is up to $6300.00 inmates. that's almost 600 percent of the capacity. we should be scared you know because we can be outnumbered . and that's not an exaggeration according to international standards this should be one god for a free 7 prisoners. the ratio here is one to about 200. to officials have adopted some unusual solutions. i think the most unique is when we use the inmates the police there can. be elect their own leaders and then we delegate some of our authority again to their need there's. the marcellus they

help us in such a piece in order to. post in here a admits the jails here have always been crowded but it has reached unprecedented levels since president rhodri go to to take announced his war on drugs. r.j. population has increased by 50 percent since that since 26 being where the time where he took office 5050 percent yeah 50 percent. in the slums of manilla this war has become infamous for the extrajudicial killing of thousands of drug suspects rights groups accuse the police of being involved.

but look beyond the bloodshed and you find tens of thousands of people who are incarcerated indefinitely after being arrested for drug crimes. to see this campaign in action we joined the drug enforcement agency on an operation to boston a suspected dealer. in a manila parking lot undercover agents away sing in this car to buy crystal meth or shopping from the suspect. it was a difficult mission. but it's a tense wice as agents negotiate the deal so we're still waiting for. the driver of the car. that subtle in the law is a clash of. the agency losing to make the rest.

of. the people. they seize just on the hof a kilo of shabu with a street value of about $60000.00. how much jail time is he looking at. between the. there are humans. in the labor department. the operation is a success but our investigation suggests that not all drug arrests this clean. since 2016 almost 160000 people have been arrested in the anti narcotics campaign. guilty or not they go straight to prisons like manila city jail . jails in the philippines were built to hold around 20000 people

but today they take more than 113000 most of these people haven't even been convicted of a crime based still waiting for verdicts in the case of. one of the inmates stuck in this limbo is good there maupassant he's already spent more than 2. 100 for a verdict in his drug case. we miss him as he's heading to yet another court hearing. for the 1st time i set foot inside here i felt like i was being choked. i thought where am i why am i here i shouldn't be here what is this place. suddenly i found myself crying i was so scared. i was charged with section $5.11 possession and dealing drugs the police report

that he was busted with 0.24 grams of shoppers but glamorous says he was set up by a cop during a drug operation in his neighborhood. one a policeman shouted. he has a gun i was like wait i don't have to go. when they didn't find anything but the same policeman said i'm going to charge you with $511.00 a much more serious crime. says the officers planted evidence against him at the police station. on the table there was already the evidence and they told me to point at it so they can take a photo but i refused i said that's not mine why do i have to point out that. they told me do you want us to kill you we should have killed you while ago. they

asked me how much can you give i said what do you mean they said just give us $2000.00 you can bill yourself. i told them i don't have any money i'm poor. i have to admit i was skeptical of clare my story almost everyone in jail says they innocent but he says he has no reason to lie he's already pled guilty to the charges. even if you didn't do anything you have to admit to it just so you can plea bargain to be released early . we have to bite the bullet we don't have a choice. we're doing this for the sake of our family. there is no bail for drug offenses if glare mo for the charges he could spend years in prison just waiting for a verdict. by pleading guilty he got

a reduced sentence that technically he's already served. and now. i guess i'm going. to get there. after a long ways. it's finally go there most turn to appear before the judge. but within minutes. he's back out in the hallway the judge did not grant his release he still has to have a mandatory drug test to determine if he's an addict and that could take months. is devastated. he was sure he was going home to his family i don't know i don't know about the. sex i get that.

i am not of the number and think we'll. let. you know you're watching them over the summer. but the more. about the. most my son is having a big enough. they're most not the only one having a rough day at the course how many people here are here for drugs cases raise your hat. most people ok and how many people here had their hearings cancelled office for raise your hands. so all of these hearings scheduled but as you can see a lot of them never got to come before a judge. every time a hearing is perspiring and it prolongs the trial adding months to an inmate's

incarceration. the courts a so of a stretch that this happens all the time leaving people stranded behind bars for years. it's enough to push some to suicide by. the. at the jail inmates have 'd set up a support group to help each other cope good morning by me being. 6 a. month 11th and being shackled. near 6 months like most of the prisoners many here were arrested for drugs. i think the latter might. know. more but many only show. these sessions are led by 58 year old tree hill leo reyes. he's one of the prisons longest serving inmates with his trial dragging on now for more than 14 years.

he says is what's kept him a my. son. my government. building been. among young men a party that people should know drink or knowing i'm. really i was a decorated public servant working for the manila city council but in 2004 he was charged with falsifying public documents and embezzling money charges he says were politically motivated what should we do when we have a bear we have. here in the gate what should we do. our hand do or. have you ever been convicted of a crime no conviction no big. really

how the hell you know has been acquitted of over 20 cases but he still has more than 50 pending today he's missing a jail paralegal to find out if his hearings can be fast tracked. about. him. a bill a new member hearing school. a. 200 behaving better mom and. now you will. be my more done when. at this race he could die in jail before the court gets through all his cases you have spent more than 14 years in jail i am not angry or bitter about being forced to stay here if you are angry you will not survive i.

only. need to get i will be my main. about me because i. mean the board made me i. love. all the office i can do is fill out a complaint form. but if he's disappointed he doesn't show it he says today he wants to forget his problems. it's prisoner awareness week and everyone else in the jail is an animal. and dance competitions. and the hill is leading the charge in simba. families have also come to watch the festivities. they're allowed in he has 6 days

a week wives even get conjugal visits and children get to spend time with their father. many inmates tell me that this is the only thing that keeps them sane. people don't have visited us they get depressed. they start thinking too much they always wonder why they don't have any visitors. but claire mo doesn't allow his children to visit he can bear for them to see him behind bars. you know that. their most is that even though he can be with his children he tries to be

a good father but it's not easy. and they're now. but i. mean i don't. think. this policy of the law isn't a law this is my responsibility as a father. i never experienced my father's love in that i never felt is love even that i'm the man. and i'm one of the saudi diggle i promised myself that when i have kids i will never let them experience what my father said it to me. oh oh oh oh oh. oh. oh. oh oh. oh.

i don't feel it. was. closer to the way my. legs outside 7. has a visit obviously his youngest daughter. because he asks us to conceal her identity he doesn't want her to be stigmatized because of his imprisonment things have been damaged by the whole thing. it's a bad. thing. they've been one of my function. was a father of 5 when he was sent to jail now they have kids of their own you know you hop on a chain shotgun on the pavement. but

despite everything the hero says he's grateful in spite of my many years good in the game the fun mimics fade in the. way it should be very very good. shape is pleasing the road and the molder and the bugger children and belle big over all grown. it's been a good day for heavier than. the time has passed too quickly and over the by the. time they get out of the figure i'm on my i'm among them on the provisional which alone is not going to. as much as the love seeing his family the hillier says it's on bearable watching them leave. is also having

a tough nice to spending the day watching other fathers spend time with their children. sitting between us my kids are my strength. and that's why i'm trying to be strong. for them. he prays for them every night he says he can never forgive the police for separating him from his family 7 their motto is to serve and protect but the reality is they only serve and protect themselves. again and again inmates told me disturbing stories about police misconduct allegations of torture extortion and the planting of evidence. but they didn't have proof. then i came across a chilling story. a team of

journalists and human rights activists raided a police station in manila after receiving a tip off what they found inside was shocking. behind this bookshelf diane covered a windowless secret cell hiding 12 terrified people respond to. the police and the like and then the men all. they were detained as drug suspects but none of them had been charged with the crime in fact the station had no record of them at all the i'm not. saying anything more about that and i was felt that i know. that. the detainees said this cell had no water or functioning toilet they were difficult using plastic bags they said police had tortured them and demanded money for their

release when the. really quite a bit of gossip in the country no no one could orient. i don't know what is going to go crazy on. my own in the middle east not finding out about it. for now and i'm going to buy those a lot of. the commander of the station denies the allegations he said that simply run out of space in the holding cell phone example i was. invited to that was the british way to find out if we know. you're looking at the end of the us and that would be television that you don't like but everything that you have to. they warn of this. since the raid none of the officers from the station have been fired. meanwhile the

detainees have been forced into hiding. we tracked down one of the men who was in that cell phone was the norm we didn't know what it was and when we arrived they just punched me and told me to confess to having drugs but they weren't mine they didn't find anything on me. this former detainees has been in hiding for months terrified of police retribution he says he spent 9 days in that cell while police try to force a confession. after my arrest they wouldn't stop beating me. every night they would bring me out of the cell and say let's kill this guy in a drug operation. or i was bleeding sweating i even urinated. did you think it was strange that the police were locking you up in this pit and so . they put us in that cell so they could extort money from us that's the truth i

was told i'd be released if i gave them about a $1000.00 but if none of us could pay they were charging us with section 511. we try to put these allegations to the philippine national police they would not talk to us but activists say that police misconduct is endemic with impoverished and innocent people routinely arrested. it's an experience that. says he's had 1st hand. the last of us out of 100 percent i only have 5 percent faith in the police by. so many of my neighbors are in jail with me . our whole communities here. calero says the police and the law have failed him even after pleading guilty and serving the

sentence for a crime he says he didn't commit he's still stuck in prison here with the saddle. today he's finally getting his court ordered drug test he needs a clean urine sample and the green light from the doctor before he can be released it would. but there also going to learn a lot of unemployed and a lot of the no police for miles and those who say i don't mind your 6 months talk to hussein one veranda has been working in drug rehabilitation facility he has . what was your assessment of the stick a sign that they're going i see my son not drug use or has that using drugs anymore and therefore there is no in our part to do in your experience to a lot of people are not using drugs at mit to take drugs just to get out of jail there are there are people who i mean by less selfish just to be able to get out.

of your. life. see when they're most says he has lost faith in justice. now you can only tune to gaunt and the president mr president mr president not everyone who is in jail is. not everyone is a bad person or that we are human beings like you. after more than 14 years the hell you know is also desperately trying to hold on to his face he still believes that one day he will be free i still. had a purpose that might actually these things have a purpose i really really i've been cleaned up i shouldn't be. here

in bend and when the. what was the last thing the president said to you about impeachment when you last spoke to him for all. you see it's not about you. are you done with allegations all the work all the years ago how worried are you that the conditions are still right for another i think they are right join me man of the house and as i put up from questions to my special guests and challenge them to some straight talking political debate here on al-jazeera. education is the beacon that might see the future and society but those who live in atlanta new places getting an education takes inspiration and determination but i can tell you no good to live in the remote areas don't have electricity t.v.

or computers. to short films show how in love of learning finds a way. down to 0. this is al-jazeera. has i'm speaking of this is the news hour live from doha here's what's coming up in the next 60 minutes i democracy is what is it still the president leads us no choice but to act speaker nancy pelosi says the u.s. house of representatives is drafting impeachment charges against president trump a vote could be held in the next couple of weeks. exhausted survivors forced to

swim ashore after a migrant boat sinks off africa's west coast.