Rodríguez believes the prison situation — marked by overcrowding, violence, and precariousness — is more visible now than “until two, three or four years ago,” which favors the recognition that Familias Presentes has had in the years it has been working. “Today it is a more daily concern, and we do not say that it is the work of Familias Presentes, but we are also recognized for something, and our voice is sought to know what we think, what we feel; evidently because it was a voice that did not exist, that was not visible,” she pointed out.
Although she confessed that “it is difficult,” Rodríguez hopes that “as a society, we will one day understand” that the way forward is not “to spend on prisons, but that if we do things differently, we will be investing” in rehabilitation, and that more alternative measures to prison should accompany this. “Our society for many years has asked for more prisons, more and longer sentences as a solution to security, and the political system, in part, has responded, unfortunately, with an atrocious punitive inflation that today I think no one can argue that it has been the solution to anything,” she stressed.
Rodríguez highlighted that Familias Presentes will have a place in the inter-institutional and inter-party round table called by the National Human Rights Institution and the Parliamentary Commissioner of the Penitentiary “for the transformation of the prison system” and understands that this is “the confirmation that what we have been doing and how we have been working generates the necessary respect.”
Billares said that in the context of the election year, the organization is planning to “approach all the political parties and, surely, to carry out some activity in which they will have to publicly state their position on certain issues” related to the prison system. Likewise, Familias Presentes is working on a resource guide for relatives of persons deprived of their freedom, with the purpose of “advising people, where they can go, how they have to get there, with their clothes, when they need a transfer, where they have to go” and other frequent doubts.
On the other side
Rodríguez pointed out that “for those in prison,” it is important “to know that there are people on the outside who care” about what happens on the other side of the bars. “We experienced it with Martha: we arrived at the Canelones prison and, when we started to pass [the cells], we heard, ‘Hey, hey, watch out, here come the little mothers,’” said Durán. The other members agreed that they were grateful to the prisoners. “They are always grateful that someone cares about them,” said Durán.
In a conversation with la diaria, a prisoner who is serving a sentence in Unit 4 of Santiago Vázquez said that he met Familias Presentes two weeks after his arrival: “I explained my situation to them, they listened to me and came to see me, they brought me things I needed, hygiene, food, and they made themselves available to me. hey explained to me what [the organization] was all about; they were like family support,” he said.
He said that they helped him to get “a school place,” something he describes as “very difficult in the prison system,” because “it is very slow and blocked.”
“Medical assistance is also very difficult; apparently, if you don’t have something serious, it’s not an emergency, and they helped me with that too. They always supported me and asked me how I did and felt. They have given me the support of a united family and have done so with many in this facility,” he said. “At least I don’t feel like I’m alone anymore.” – Rappler.com
This story was originally published in la diaria (Uruguay) and is republished within the Human Journalism Network program, supported by the ICFJ, International Center for Journalists.
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Publish date : 2024-08-23 16:18:00
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