What to expect when an Inmate comes home?
When you get out of jail
In European country with the highest number of prisoners per population. When one of them is released from prison, he faces a reality for which he is often unprepared; neither he, nor the society that should welcome him. Three lives in the process of reinsertion
When a prisoner is released from prison after having served his sentence, he begins a reintegration process for which, many times, neither society nor he is prepared. A complex path whose goal is that the person who has committed a crime and has been punished for it obtains the necessary tools to reintegrate into society. A task that is not easy and that affects many. Spain, with 62,794 prisoners, is, since May, the European country with the highest number of prisoners per population (14 out of 10,000).
“There are a lot of kids in prison who deserve another chance; if the doors are closed to them, they will probably commit crimes again when they get out. Besides, they want to work and have a normal life.” Eduardo Torres Villar knows what he is talking about. He has been in prison for six years and five months and, as he says, he has seen a lot. He is one of the lucky few who have been able to have that second chance. Parques y Jardines, a green area maintenance company, has hired him despite being in prison. According to him he says, this has changed his life. “The work here is everything. I was depressed until I started working. Now I see that there is life outside.” For Eduardo, it is the first step back to the society from which he left a long time ago. Something he longs for as much as he fears. If everything goes fine,
Key elements
When a person is deprived of their liberty, family connections often take on great importance. The family can play a vital emotional and material support role for detainees in difficult times. Contact with the family during the period of detention represents a link between them and the outside world and can often serve as a safeguard. The family will be able to keep track of where their loved ones are and will pay special attention to the fulfillment of their rights in general, interests and well-being.
Family visits are a right and not a privilege, and defending the right to family is more than just allowing visits. There are many elements that must be considered – for example, the structural conditions for visits, and consideration for detainees with specific needs or in situations of vulnerability.
Most detainees will, at some point, be released and reintegrate into the community. If the ties between these people and their families are maintained throughout their time in prison, the chances of reintegration into society will increase considerably.
What do we understand by family?
The term family should be broadly interpreted. The term “partner” should include both husbands and wives and same-sex couples. The family must also include other people who are significant to the detainee, such as grandfathers and grandmothers, or a person who maintains a long and close relationship of friendship with the family.
People belonging to indigenous peoples or certain minorities may have a culturally specific concept of family whereby the person has an enhanced value of family compared to the mainstream or dominant culture. For example, in some indigenous communities, the family is central to the life of the community and imprisonment can have a serious impact on both detainees and their community. Detaining authorities must be sensitive to these issues, for example by allowing outings to attend funerals of family members.
In cases where the detained person has no family, or does not wish to maintain contact, it may be appropriate for the authorities to facilitate contact with voluntary visitors in order to maintain connection with the outside world.
Notification of the authorities to the family of the detained persons
The family must always be notified of the detention within the first 24 hours of the detention when the detained person arrives at the center, and each time a transfer occurs. The family must be informed of any serious injury or illness of the person deprived of liberty and, in the case of notification of death, it must be done within at least 24 hours.
Family visits as a right and not as a privilege
Family life is a fundamental human right. In the context of detention, this means that visits between detainees and their families should never be viewed as a privilege that can be withdrawn as a form of disciplinary action. In exceptional circumstances – for example, an emergency or natural disaster – it may be necessary to postpone or cancel a family visit. However, these restrictions must be justified by the circumstances and visits must be resumed as soon as possible. It is unacceptable to demand payment or other actions from detainees or their families in exchange for visits.
The authorities should generally try to hold detainees in the appropriate institution closest to their families’ place of residence. In some cases, there may be conflicting considerations between placing the detainee in the institution closest to their family members, on the one hand, and the most appropriate facility according to their classification. This problem usually arises in the case of women, given the limited number of facilities designed especially for them. Whenever possible, the detainee’s preferences should be taken into account in making such decisions. Detained persons should never be placed away from home for punitive or political reasons.
In cases where the family of a detained person lives far away, for example, visits could be accumulated and then used on consecutive days, or face-to-face visiting time could be replaced by telephone time.
In prisons where systems of “self-governance” or “shared government” operate with inmates, it is vital that the families of detainees are not subjected to violence, threats or intimidation and that they are not asked to pay for obtaining visits to their relatives.
In many countries, prisons include built facilities such as cottages or apartments that are separate from the main prison facilities, but within the perimeter of the institution, to provide a place where detainees can have extended visits (for example , spend the night or the weekend) with their families in relative privacy. Detainees are still subject to security requirements (eg reporting to authorities), but enjoy time with family in a more normalized environment than prison visiting rooms.