Friday, March 29

Back to life, after years in prison: “Some have been in prison for so long that they have to be taught to use a mobile”


“There is a lot of ignorance because prisons are a taboo subject.” This is how Julio García begins to speak with this newspaper. He has been a volunteer at El Dueso (Santoña) for 27 years and, as he points out on several occasions during the interview with elDiario.es, if there is something that taboo topics generate, it is ignorance. Thus, issues such as whether prisoners can work while they are in prison both inside and outside of it, or that they are not required to confess during a job interview that they have been in prison, continue to be matters that are only known to those who have experienced it first hand. close.

According to the Spanish Constitution itself, prison is the space where people prepare to reintegrate. However, these centers continue to be located in places far from population centers with the aim of further separating them from a society to which they will have to return sooner or later. That is precisely what Julio is dedicated to, as well as volunteering at the El Dueso prison in Cantabria, he is the founder of the New Life Associationthe only one in Cantabria that treats and guides prisoners from the moment they enter prison.

This association, in addition to advice, psychological care and support during the process of leaving prison, also offers temporary accommodation, something that, according to this volunteer, is necessary in two cases and the first is in which the ex-prisoner cannot go to another place: “He doesn’t go out and go home like in the movies because many don’t even have a home and we have to take them in.” Then, after the reports issued by the Treatment Board of each prisoner, the judge and the Prosecutor’s Office decide if the person can go to his house or if he goes to an entity that welcomes him.

Paz Allende, who is a social integrator and the coordinator of a resource that can reach more than a dozen prisoners or ex-prisoners, is in charge of this more professionalized part: “In addition to when they get out of prison, we also receive people who are in prison. permission, as well as their families, who may not have resources, live outside the community and not be able to visit the inmate”, he points out.

This place, located in Renedo de Piélagos and managed by social educators, social workers, integrators and psychologists, is far from “what people can imagine”. “They are very disciplined people. To enjoy permits they have to do very well inside, and a problematic person will probably never arrive or be welcomed with us. It’s just that we haven’t had a single problem, really”, asserts the specialist.

However, if there is something that the Santander association focuses on, it is the search for employment as a method of social integration and economic independence, something that psychologist Celia Valiente, a worker at Nueva Vida and in charge of the program, is in charge of. Reincorpora’ financed by the ‘La Caixa’ Foundation. “It’s about being autonomous and sometimes you have to start with the most basic… There are people who have been in prison for so long that they even have to be taught how to use a mobile phone or open a bank account so they can pay their payroll ”, he points out.

This program teaches different courses that range from how to write a resume to work on social skills, since, in many cases, they are affected by being in prison. Then would come the active search for employment, which is usually a success: “It is difficult for them not to get it because we guide them and support them with companies that, in addition, collaborate with us directly, although without knowing if they are prisoners, refugees or other types of vulnerable people,” he says.

However, despite the success of the association’s program, for Julio the prisoners continue to be “the great forgotten of the State”, which is why the private foundations have to cover those “cracks”: “All the politicians that I have seen in these 27 years, which have been of all colors, have not been involved in anything. And issues such as the Reviewable Permanent Prison (PPR) still seem to me to make no sense because if the penalties are aimed at reintegration, the fact that there are cases of PPR means that there are cases that are not being resolved. ”, He claims.

“They can always be reinserted 100%”

Regarding the ability to reintegrate, both Paz and Celia as well as Julio are clear that the ex-prisoners can achieve it 100% as long as they have support. A support that, in addition to them, can also come from their own family structure, they remember. “Not everyone needs us, it is clear. The important thing is to give them an opportunity and then they do what they want with it, but everyone deserves to be offered it at least”, concludes Celia.

For her part, Paz proudly tells how one of the men who is in the foster home after his time in prison has graduated in Law and insists on the idea that there are “many” who decide to study, especially middle grades.

And Julio, who has an increasingly full agenda -he makes 14 visits in a single day in El Dueso-, reviews with this newspaper the pending tasks: help to obtain a permit, speak with a judge, with a criminologist. .. And before leaving, he makes a note: “I, who don’t even want to find out about the crime they have committed in case it influences me, have managed, despite that social stigma, to see only people who have made a mistake. Some have made a lot of mistakes, others perhaps shouldn’t even be imprisoned and still others should be even longer. But that is not our job. At the moment it’s just helping”, he concludes.



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