[8] The Manila City Jail began overcrowding at the start of the Rodrigo Duterte administration, during the crackdown on drug-related crimes.

[1][3][9] In September 2019, two inmates were killed and 32 were injured in a riot that began with an argument between two members of rival gangs over a sleeping space.

Jail employees were put under lockdown and not allowed to return home beginning March 20, 2020.

[12] In April 2020, the international non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch expressed the concern that, due to incomplete reporting by the Philippine government, COVID-19 might be spreading more quickly and widely within Philippine detention centers than it appeared.

In December 2018, the Philippines topped the list of countries with the most overcrowded prisons, with the average facility population exceeding 600% capacity.

[3] In April 2020, the international NGO, Human Rights Watch, raised concerns that COVID-19 was spreading more quickly and widely in Philippine detention centers than reporting suggested, and urged authorities to investigate the causes of deaths in the facilities, reduce prison populations, and implement other measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

[13] Amnesty International raised concerns the same month over the risk of Philippine prisons and detention facilities to become hot-spots of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The massive overcrowding is partially due fact that roughly 75% of the detainees are pre-trial or remand prisoners.