THE Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the immediate release from prison of a woman who was convicted of qualified theft in 2011, saying that imprisonment beyond the maximum penalty “is not only cruel and inhumane, but also undermines the dignity of detainees.”
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez dated March 15, 2023 but was only made public on Thursday, the SC Second Division affirmed the conviction of Jovelyn Antonio but ordered her immediate release from detention due to service of sentence.
Antonio was convicted by a regional trial court in 2011 of qualified theft for unlawfully taking money from her employer, GQ Pawnshop. The court found merit in allegations that she used individuals to pawn fake items and paid a total of P585,250 in appraised value to the pawners.
She was sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or at least 30 years in prison, and was committed to the Correctional Institution for Women on November 24, 2011.
In 2014, the Court of Appeals affirmed her conviction, which prompted her to bring her case to the Higher Court, which also eventually upheld her conviction.
But while the SC upheld her conviction, it reduced her jail term to prision mayor, which carries a maximum prison term of up to 10 years and eight months.
It noted that as of 2023, Antonio had already spent almost 12 years in prison.
“Under Article 89, paragraph 2 of the RPC (Revised Penal Code), criminal liability is extinguished by service of the sentence. (Antonio) has been detained since November 24, 2011, or for almost 12 years. As the maximum penalty of her crime is 10 years and eight months, she had already been detained beyond the maximum imposable penalty,” the SC said.
It said the power of courts to commit prisoners also carries with it the duty to immediately release them “in case of detention for a period equivalent to or longer that the maximum imposable penalty.”
It said this principle is “consistent” with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners or the Mandela Rules, which provide that “purposes of a sentence of imprisonment or similar measures deprivative of person’s liberty are primarily to protect society against crime and to reduce recividism.”
“The purposes can be achieved only if the period of imprisonment is used to ensure, so far as possible, the reintegration of such persons into society upon release so that they can lead a law-abiding and self-supporting life,” it added.
