What has been done:
Our Community Bail Bond Program is into its twenty-third month of implementation and we continue to persevere in helping Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) and Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL) obtain early release from detention through bail and other methods of release. The CBB Program has become a beacon of hope for deserving PDL and CICL. Our CBB Program Field Officers were unfailing in their duties of conducting weekly monitoring/home visits of referrals & successfully released participants.
Aside from the weekly monitoring of our released Participants, our Program Field Officers likewise were unfailing in attending court hearings, coordinating with barangay officials & PAO lawyers, and the processing of bail.
For this period we were able to successfully release 2 CBB Participant from detention through bail. They join the 82 other CBB Participants that have been released, all of whom we are assisting towards community reintegration.
We continue to monitor our CBB Participants who became part of the “Padyak Pangkabuhayan” Project In partnership with the Rotary Club of Midtown Quezon City.
Sessions 7 & 8 of the 8-session training on the Classification, Risk Assessment and Case Management Program (CRACMP) and the Narag-Nario Lopez-Latoza, et al Classification and Risk Assessment (CRA) Interview Tool for general PDL population involving 5 NCR jails (Manila CJ-FD, Quezon CJ-FD, Marikina CJ-MD, Pasig CJ-FD, and Taguig CJ-FD) were successfully conducted. This is in support of the BJMP’s quest to arrive at an evidence-based PDL Classification System.
We participated in a series of Focus Group Discussions conducted by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism as part of their Prison Reporting Project entitled “Life Inside”.
The Community Bail Bond Project Team was finally complete with our chief consultant, Dr. Raymund E. Narag making a short homecoming to the country. We joined him during a jail visitation at the Manila City Jail Male and Female Dormitories together with representatives from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
As of April 29, there have been 261 individuals referred to our program coming from 18 jail facilities, 7 police stations, 3 youth centers, and 3 correctional facilities. Of this number 122 had been interviewed. Of the interviewed, 47 had been successfully bailed out while another 37 had been released through other legal means.
More significantly, we have a total of 13 CBB Participants who have successfully graduated from the CBB Program. We consider participants as having successfully graduated from the Program after their cases have been closed, capital assistance loans from our partner NGO have been settled, and at least another six months of monitoring have elapsed. Throughout this period, they must have shown to be responsible members of their community and can lead productive lives.
With their release, the government has now saved Php 1,119,090.00. This is computed by adding the amount budgeted per day (PhP70 for food) per PDL multiplied by the number of days since the day of the release from jail of every individual Participant. These savings will increase as days go by and as long as their cases are not terminated. For those whose cases are dismissed, served early or whose probation was approved, we expect a savings of least 60 days of non-incarceration.
Additionally, on top of the food savings by the government, these individuals are now back to the community and actively engaged in their livelihood- hence contributing to the economy. We minimized their exposure to the criminogenic jail environment leading to better reentry to the society as responsible members.
As we forge ahead with our Community Bail Bond Program, we continue to learn and re-learn approaches and procedures. And this is a welcome experience for us. We envision that more PDLs and CICLs would be assisted soon with their liberties restored, their dignity regained and that their lives are eventually rebuilt. We as a community have a significant role in all these. In the long run, support for our prisons and prisoners as a whole would benefit all of society in terms of lower rates of recidivism and increased sense of public safety. GOD IS ON OUR SIDE!
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