A new beginning: Family relationship of released prisoners from correctional institution for women

• Main Authors: Haw, Janice Ann, Navarro, Zorahayda, Sy, Richard
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2000
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/16709
• Institution: De La Salle University

The lives of the released prisoners are seldom topics of research studies. With this, a case study is made focusing on one aspect of the lives of the released prisoners-their relationship with their family of orientation and family of procreation and how was it influenced by the changes in their attitudes and behaviors. Zeroing on the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW), an in-depth interview was conducted with the use of an interview guide with twelve respondents. These respondents were released from the institution for not more than two years and are currently residing in Metro Manila. The in-depth interview, which was mostly, conducted in the institution itself, circled in three subjects. These are the experiences of the released prisoners while inside the institution, the changes in their attitudes and behavior brought about by these experiences and the relationship that exists with their family of orientation and family of procreation. The experiences of the released prisoners include the different rehabilitation and re-socialization programs offered by the institution and the activities done under each program. It also includes the relationship with their former inmates. The changes in the released prisoners' attitudes and behavior are based on their own perceptions. The third part includes the description of the relationship, the problems they encountered and the adjustments that they have taken as well as its effects in the relationship. After the in-depth interviews were conducted, the data that were gathered were categorized and put into tables. These tables became the bases of the researchers in the content analysis of the data. The findings in this study reveal that the experiences of the released prisoners while inside the institution had a great effect on their attitudes and behavior. The rehabilitation and re-socialization programs have positive effects in the attitudes and behavior of the released prisoners, particularly in the three aspects of personality: the psychological aspect, sociological aspect, and spiritual aspect. The experiences of released prisoners in terms of their relationship with the CIW personnel and former inmates also reveal the same result. A good and harmonious relationship existed between them. Even though the occurrence of problems is revealed, these problems are not crucial enough to destroy the existing relationship between the two parties. Distressing problems such as strangeness of re-entry, unmet personal needs, and barriers to success are seen upon the release of the prisoner from the institution. Rejection and discrimination not only from the mainstream society but also from the different members of the family are some of the problems of the released prisoners. These problems had a great impact on their lives. With the problems encountered, different adjustment patterns were utilized in order to break through the thorns of the problems. These adjustments are very important to lessen the burden and anxieties of the released prisoners.