PDLs as lawyers

WITH the right environment, PDLs can obtain college degrees and aspire to become lawyers. Two stages are crucial in the transformation journey of persons deprived of liberty — post-trial and reintegration. “The transformations seem impossible until it is done,” said Aland Mizell, president of College Education Behind Bars.

DAVAO CITY – Dave Barrios relishes his every waking moment at the farm. At the break of dawn, he goes out to pasture with his carabao and goats, then starts checking on his cacao plants, which have now reached more than a hundred. All have borne fruit. He has also planted vegetables on the nearby lot owned by a relative.

It’s a complete turnaround from last year when Dave was behind bars, spending time at the jail annex of the Male Dormitory at Davao City Jail. Like many Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) facilities all over the country, it was overcrowded. Its population of 900 is three times its ideal capacity.

What sets the facility apart is its educational facility for Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) – College

Education Behind Bars (CEBB) — where they can obtain college degrees if they are willing to put in the work to complete course requirements.

Dave was able to finish all but one month of coursework

by the time he was released in February 2021 after seven years in incarceration. The case against him was dismissed. The following March, he finished the remaining month of classes at the University

of Southeastern Philippines (USEP), earning the degree Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Business.

Dave has been producing fine cocoa that

DAVE Barrios tends his carabao in his family’s farm in Tugbok, Davao City. He turned to farming after being released from jail when the drug case against him was dismissed, putting into good use the degree in Agriculture Business he earned through the College Education Behind Bars program of the Davao City Jail.

INMATES gather inside a cramped cell of the the Davao City Jail Annex in Maa, Davao City. The jail annex , with a designed capacity of 300 inmates, now holds 900 inmates who are waiting for the outcome of their cases in court.