What has been done:
Our Community Bail Bond Program is growing! This period we proudly welcome partners from the Cagayan Provincial Jail and the Cagayan de Oro City Volunteers in Prison Service Catholic Prison Ministry as they successfully facilitated the release on bail of several PDL. They will now conduct post release monitoring and other interventions in aid of their reintegration. Our Program Field Officers forged ahead going above and beyond the call of duty. These included conducting weekly monitoring/home visits of successfully released participants as well as attending to their court hearings and other steps they are taking towards reintegration.
Aside from the weekly monitoring of our released Participants, our Program Field Officers likewise were unfailing in conducting initial home and barangay visits for applicants, coordinating with barangay officials & PAO lawyers, and the processing of bail.
For this period, we were able to successfully release 9 CBB Participant from detention through bail and other means. They join the 94 other CBB Participants that have been released, all of whom we are assisting towards community reintegration.
Last September 16, 2022, our PRESO CBB Team met with representatives from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Zambales Chapter for to discuss the adoption of our Community Bail Bond Program.
Our Field Officers attended the Caloocan City Jail Male Dorm and Manila City Jail Female Dorm’s service providers meetings last September 27 & 28.
PRESO, Inc. was invited by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as one of their featured presenters for a 3-day workshop on “Health in Custodial Settings”. This was attended by representatives from the BJMP National and Regional offices as well as jail units. Also present were representatives from other members in the correctional pillar as well as several civil organizations.
As of September 30, there have been 318 individuals referred to our program coming from 18 jail facilities, 7 police stations, 3 youth centers, and 3 correctional facilities. Of this number 154 had been interviewed. Of the interviewed, 60 had been successfully bailed out while another 43 had been released through other legal means.
More significantly, we have a total of 21 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, 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 1,439,270.00. 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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