By: Mary Ann Cortez
Have you ever wondered what a normal day in the life of a social worker in a prison is like?
This week, the Jail Decongestion Interns had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Wendell Manaloto, a Social Worker from the Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation, Inc., who will provide us with his work overview.
The Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation (HLAF) recognizes that jail personnel, including correctional and jail officials, are important in the successful rehabilitation and reintegration of people in jails around the world. Positive relationships between persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) and prison officials are critical in encouraging pro-social behavior, promoting an environment of respect, and generally creating safer conditions for the public, staff, and PDLs in jails. Yet people working in prisons face one of the toughest, most challenging, and most stressful work environments in the world.
“When I was an intern, the first jail I went to was Quezon City Jail’s Male dormitory. Right out, you can already smell a pungent smell where you can’t find where it’s from. You may feel dizzy, especially when it’s your first time”. Manaloto told that he was scared, and was wondering how can he talk to those kinds of people, especially those crime offenders.
Making a career out of social work in jails and outside as a whole is difficult, but it is critical to the pursuit of PDL rehabilitation, prison reform, and lower incarceration rates. Professionals, in social work, can play an important role in all aspects of correctional policy and operations, including entry and re-entry into society, monitoring prison practices and conditions, family services, mental health, and substance abuse counseling, probation management, job and life skills training, and program implementation.
Manaloto started his job in 2018. He told during the interview that the social workers’ role is uniquely important since they studied to promote the welfare and well-being of the most vulnerable.
Social work plays a big role to forward and understanding the welfare of people, especially those who have the least. In his program, the Focused Reintegration of Ex-Detainees (FRED), he told that while providing programs and activities for former PDLs to reintegrate them back into the community, you are also connecting them again to their family, friends, and society in general because of the social stigma they are fighting.
The biggest benefit of being a social worker is seeing the change for everyone. Social workers have seen what listening, believing, and empowering can do. Social workers have different roles and responsibilities, Manaloto told.
In general, however, they help PDLs overcome obstacles in their lives and prepare for their reintegration into society. To carry out these tasks, social workers like Manaloto often work closely with other jail personnel, development workers, and PDLs themselves.
A part of social worker Manaloto’s role is to ensure that PDLs and former ones receive proper treatment and involve them in improving their lifestyle inside and outside of jail.
The current mental health situation of PDLs in the Philippines is a bit low because there are no permanent counselors, psychologists, or psychiatrists in jails. Despite the wide range of prevalence estimates, one of the major problems faced by PDL is the degree of mental diseases. The overwhelming complexity of mental illness far exceeds the scope of prisons in their existing form and function. It’s just not realistic to expect people to thrive in an uncomfortable environment, which is why many mental health specialists label it “antitherapeutic.”
To improve the well-being and mental state of PDLs at HLAF, the FRED Program provides mental health sessions for PDLs and former PDLs so that they can better recognize and identify their emotions because of the partner mental health providers of HLAF.
Social workers in HLAF provide services for PDLs to prevent them from returning to jails such as from the FRED Program. HLAF’s post-release session aims to support PDLs and former ones in the knowledge and ability to reintegrate into the community while changing the attitudes of the community, duty-bearers, and themselves.
PDLs and former ones’ needs are important to be properly addressed to reduce recidivism and provide them with appropriate programs. These vulnerable groups of people should not feel that they are left out.
For HLAF and Social Workers like Manaloto, promoting and forwarding the vulnerable group’s welfare and well-being is a huge step already to reintegrating them back into the community, creating hope-based ones.
