What has been done:
We celebrate two years of our Community Bail Bond Program! The program has grown by leaps and bounds since it began last May 2020 and to date, we have successfully released 86 Persons Deprived of Liberty. Our Program Field Officers have also conducted 3,377 monitoring activities as part of our holistic program that incorporates risk and needs assessment of applicants as well as post release interventions to ensure their full reintegration into their communities upon release.
For this period covered, our Program Field Officers went about their regular duties 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 84 other CBB Participants that have been released, all of whom we are assisting towards community reintegration.
As of June 3, there have been 268 individuals referred to our program coming from 18 jail facilities, 7 police stations, 3 youth centers, and 3 correctional facilities. Of this number 127 had been interviewed. Of the interviewed, 49 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 1,185,240.00. 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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