After serving six years in prison for a drug-related offense, Axel (not his actual name), 44, says he has a hard time looking for work.
In 2016, Axel was convicted for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. He was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment and was detained at the Mandaue City Jail. Due to the congestion at the Mandaue City Jail, Axel fell ill with tuberculosis and was transferred to the new prison facility in Dungguan, Mandaue City in 2019.
Imprisonment did not stop Axel from improving himself. While in detention, Axel actively availed of the livelihood programs offered by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) for persons deprived of liberty (PDL).
After undergoing several trainings, he was eventually assigned as an assistant paramedic to nurses attending to PDLs who tested positive for COVID-19.
Axel was eventually granted parole and was released from prison in December 2022. He was given a GCTA or Good Conduct Time Allowance, a provision on sentence reduction given to law offenders for good behavior by the Board of Pardon and Parole.
Parole is defined as the conditional release of a prisoner from a correctional institution after serving the minimum period of prison sentence.
Walking away a free man, Axel was ready to face society, especially with the new knowledge and skills he learned from the programs he joined while he was in detention.
However, he was met with a new challenge – the stigma that comes with being an “ex-convict.” Axel has been denied various employment opportunities because of his criminal record. He once applied for a janitorial position but was not accepted after the employer learned about Axel’s criminal record.
“Kung mapriso ka kay dad-on jud nimu sa kamatayon ang kauwaw kay ang mga tao mo-discriminate jud. Dili na sila mosalig jud nimu nga tarong ka motrabaho tungod lagi kay napriso ka. Markado na ka ba bisan nagbag-o naka (When you’ve been a prisoner, you carry the shame until you die because people will discriminate against you. They will not trust you anymore to do a good job because you’ve been in prison. You are marked even though you’re already a changed man,” said Axel.
Rehabilitation and livelihood
In January this year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has instructed the Department of Justice (DOJ) Tuesday to continue releasing persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who are qualified for parole as one step to decongest the country’s correctional facilities.
In its 2022 accomplishment report, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said it released almost 3,000 PDLs from July to December 2022.
The Philippine government through the Department of Justice-Parole and Probation Administration (DOJ-PPA) is helping make former offenders like Axel employable while trying to stop the stigma faced by ex-detainees.
PPA is an attached agency of DOJ tasked to conserve and/or redeem convicted offenders and prisoners who are under the probation or parole system.
Social stigma is a challenge faced by the PPA in their aim of helping former offenders find community acceptability, said PPA Region 7 Director Rosana V. Solite in a Kapihan sa PIA interview.
“Parolees and probationers face stigma from neighbors and family members alike as they tend to look upon offenders with discrimination,” said Solite.
PPA undertakes rehabilitation programs for probationers and parolees. Probation is a privilege granted by the court to a person convicted of a criminal offense to remain in the community instead of actually going to jail.
One program is the Therapeutic Community Program, a self-help social learning treatment method used in the rehabilitation of drug offenders and other clients with behavioral problems.
The primary “therapist” and teacher is the community itself, consisting of peers, probation and parole officers, and Volunteer Probation Assistants (VPA), who, as role models of successful personal change, serve as guides in the recovery process.
Another program is the Restorative Justice Program, which uses a philosophical foundation in rehabilitation and aims to create remorseful offenders who would accept responsibility for their misconduct, particularly to the victims and to the community. It includes mediation, conferencing, support circle and the like. This program provides a healing opportunity for affected parties to facilitate the recovery of the concerned parties and allow them to move on with their lives.
Another strategy employed by PPA is the Volunteer Probation Assistant Program to generate maximum citizen participation and community involvement in the process of rehabilitation and crime prevention.
VPAs serve as “therapy vehicles” since they live in the same community as their client, they are hands-on in ushering the rehabilitation and reformation of their clients. The VPAs will help pave the way for the offender, victim, and community to each heal from the harm resulting from the crime done and can initiate a circle of support for clients and victims to prevent further crimes.
The agency also conducts livelihood trainings together with their partner agencies, such as the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Technical Skills and Development Agency, and the Department of Labor and Employment. Through these trainings, PPA hopes to make the former offenders employable and live productive lives after detention.
Second chance
Solite appealed to the public to help their clients at PPA who she said are willing to change. “Let’s give them a second chance. We have to show to them that we accept them as persons with dignity,” she said.
She added that community acceptance is one way of helping the reforming offenders to live a productive and law-abiding life. “Even if they have committed a crime, they are willing to change… Let’s accept them and help them so they won’t go back to their criminal ways,” Solite said.
For former offenders like Axel, their criminal record is a stain they are forced to live with for the rest of their lives despite their potential to have a reformed life. Axel hopes time will come when people will be more accepting so people like him can move forward.
“Nanghinaot ko nga ma-open minded na ang mga tao kay pwede man gud ta magbag-o (I hope that people will be more open-minded, because it is possible for a person to change for the better),” said Axel. (MYP/PIA7 Cebu)
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