The Baguio City Jail-Female Dorm (BCJ-FD) is implementing various programs for the welfare and development for the 93 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) it is currently housing.
BCJ-FD Officer-in-Charge, S/Insp. Vilma Fangsilat said the programs are implemented in close coordination with partner agencies, non-government organizations and private individuals.
She said the BCJ-FD is manned by professionals with expertise in the health and social sciences, education, public safety and criminal justice that caters to the overall needs of PDLs.
“These PDLs are also human beings who need humane treatment. It is with this reason that there are programs being implemented and enhanced guided by the principle, ‘Kahit ang makasalanan ay niyayakap ng Panginoon at binibigyan pa rin ng pagkakataon para mapagtanto ang kamaliang nagawa at magbago’,” she said.
She said not all PDLs may not have committed the crimes they were charged of.
She said the programs do not only cater to PDLs but also their families and the BCJ-FD is currently linked with the DSWD’s Regional Haven for Women and Girls, Daughters of Mary Immaculate International-Our Lady of the Atonement Cathedral, and the Shalom Jewish Ministry International.
Home visits are conducted to the families of PDLs who are in dire need and provided with medical, educational, financial and food assistance, Fangsilat said.
She added her office has entered into a memorandum of agreement with Tesda-Baguio City School of Arts and Trades to continuously provide PDLs with livelihood trainings that they could use upon their release.
“In addition to the assistance on Alternative Learning System rendered by BCJ-FD teachers to PDLs inside jail, the same care is given to some of their children. Interested children are taught one-on-one, either face-to-face or virtual, depending on the agreed approach and schedule,” Fangsilat said.
The BCJ-FD, a Covid-19-free facility for the past two years, participates in all efforts undertaken by the city government under Mayor Benjamin Magalong in Covid-19 management like the Bayanihan Bakunahan program and having its personnel and PDLs vaccinated, she added. – Gaby B. Keith
April 26, 2024
