Manila: a bar of soap in every cell for restorative justice

Prisons in the Philippines are among the most overcrowded in the world: on the occasion of Prison Awareness Week, Jesuits involved in the pastoral care of prisoners are calling for restorative programmes and the streamlining of trials.

Manila (AsiaNews) - The Philippine government officially calls it "National Correctional Conscience Week". Prison chaplains, nuns and penitentiary volunteers hope that everyone in Philippine society will celebrate the event that the Church also celebrates every year in October, so that everyone can learn and share stories of change and find more ways in which prisoners and free people can work together towards paths of restorative justice.

In the Philippines, the Jesuits are the religious congregation that works most in prisons. Since it began in 1994, 23 fathers of the Society of Jesus have worked for the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service (PJPS). Fr. Vic Labao, for example, works in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Manila, the largest in the Philippines.

"The help we give is part of daily needs such as the distribution of bars of soap to all the over 34 thousand people detained in the largest prison in the nation", explains Fr. Matthew Delgado, PJPS Advocacy Program Coordinator.

The Jesuits also work with the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW), a women's prison in Mandaluyong: “With the help of volunteers and raising awareness this week, we can do more than we ever thought possible. This allows us to increase the impact of the programs activated by the Church throughout the country."

The objective of the Philippine church is to support the path of change and humanization of detention in Philippine prisons, aiming at the rehabilitation of people deprived of liberty. "Together we can create a better future for the people in the country who are not free", concludes Fr. Delgado.