Vacationing Day #4
Currently one of my most fulfilling days of the school year happened today. I had my binhi and went to New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa. I wasn’t alone though, some of my classmates and other students from BS psych were there too.
I have never been inside prison nor have I been close to one so this was a really new and different experience. I had apprehensions at first, ofcourse, as what the stigma is, people in prison are bad and dangerous. My apprehension disappeared quickly though when I got to see the prisoners really happy to see us when we came inside their classroom (that’s where our interactions was held). They were noisy and smiley, like the typical characteristic of most Filipinos.
I got so much from my 3-4 hour stay there. We had a one on one talk with the prisoners after playing ice-breaker games with them, and they even prepared a short program for us to showcase their amazing talents.
I felt a little empathy for my partner Rafael, during our one on one talk he told me his sentence was quite long. I saw that he still managed to smile and not fall in despair so I also respect him for that.
Out of all my congested observations and insights, I guess what I learned most is that prisoners should be helped and not discriminated nor forgotten. Humans weren’t born to be caged and be treated like animals (but don’t worry they were well taken care of in New Bilibid), we were born to live with freedom and choice.
Every action we do is a contribution to someone else, and there was just so many prisoners that could’ve been doing something but can’t because of their situation. But what I do like about New Bilibid is the rehab they do for the prisoners. The prisoners get to study and they even follow a schedule where they eat, take a bath, and exercise together. Which is good because they have something to do to help them change for the better.
