“This is justice that rehabilitates. The prison cannot be a deposit of discarded; it must be a bridge return to the community,” he said.
The Church resumed the words of Pope Francis, who, when he opened the holy door in the Rebibbia prison, stressed that mercy must also reach those deprived of liberty, since that gesture underlines the importance of hope and reintegration.
The institution recalled that in Mexico more than 236,000 people are deprived of liberty and “many still have no sentence.”
“The overpopulation and lack of agile processes aggravate the situation, making it difficult to reintegrate the inmates. The Church proposes that justice focus on rehabilitation and not only on punishment,” he added.
To improve reintegration, he adds, education, mental health, employment and support programs are required when leaving jail.
He said that these types of measures show that recidivism is reduced and offers a second chance to those who comply with their sentences.
“The community has the irreplaceable responsibility to accompany. The visit, listening, study, work inside and outside the prison, mental health and postpenal support networks are also peace policy,” he added.
In this sense, he presented a series of “proven measures that fall recidivism and return the horizon to people and their families”:
1 Ombudsman and due process from day one and thereby reduce the funnel of people without sentence.
2 EDUCATION AND LABOR CERTIFICATION INTRAMURES WITH REAL equivalences in the market.
3 Mental health and addictions with extra walls.
4 Employability: incentives to companies that hire graduates and “second chance” programs with mentoring.
