Reclusión perpetua is a particular kind of sentence of imprisonment in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, and several other countries.

In the Philippines, it is one of two sentences, the other being life imprisonment

Life imprisonment

Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

, designed to replace the death penalty

Capital punishment in the Philippines

Capital punishment in the Philippines has a varied history and was abolished on June 24, 2006 .Filipinos have mixed opinions about the death penalty, with many opposing it on religious and humanitarian grounds, while others advocate it as a way of deterring crimes.-Spanish and American...

 and is, in legal parlance, almost synonymous with life imprisonment. However, there are several important distinctions between the two terms:

• Reclusión perpetua is prescribed on crimes punishable by the Revised Penal Code
  Revised Penal Code of the Philippines
  The Revised Penal Code contains the general penal laws of the Philippines. First enacted in 1930, it remains in effect today, despite several amendments thereto. It does not comprise a comprehensive compendium of all Philippine penal laws. The Revised Penal Code itself was enacted as Act No...
  
  , while life imprisonment is imposed on offences punishable by Special Laws.
• Reclusión perpetua carries the accessory penalty in which, as defined by Philippine Law, guilty parties suffer lifetime barring from holding political office. Life imprisonment does not carry this penalty.
• Unlike life imprisonment, the length of a sentence for reclusión perpetua is an indivisible penalty of 40 years and cannot be altered during sentencing.
• Reclusión perpetua does not allow pardon or parole until after the first 30 years of the sentence have been served; after 40 years without pardon or parole, the sentence ends. Life imprisonment does not have any definite extent or duration of imprisonment, and prisoners serving life imprisonment can have parole at any time.