The Burgos penitentiary center has granted for the first time a prisoner to volunteer outside the prison, under the ‘doctrine of the Urdangarín case ‘, as confirmed by the intervention team of Diocesan Caritas, that has brought about this unprecedented measure. The application of article 117 of the Prison Regulations, which facilitates reintegration through the provision of services to the community, is one of the innovative initiatives of the penitentiary pastoral team of the Catholic Church. David Alonso, responsible for this Cáritas project, hopes that it will be awarded more often from now on.
The project team ‘Start over’ that Cáritas develops in the Burgos prison claims alternatives to prison sentence for certain crimes due to overcrowding in prisons and that resources be enabled to achieve more success in the reintegration processes. Fermín González, delegate of Prison Pastoral, bets on developing the Restorative Justice, which seeks the understanding between victim and offender, and provide more educational resources to prisons so that they are not rejected when they return to society. The delegate of Pastoral Pentenciaria remembers the stigma that inmates who seek social reintegration bear and the difficulties for ‘get the person back’ and find a second chance when, in some cases, they haven’t had a first.
A team of around thirty Caritas volunteers has worked with more than 200 inmates of the Burgos prison, half of the prison population, of which 179 have completed a socio-educational itinerary in the last year. Make the Santiago’s road or a radio workshop in collaboration with the University of Burgos These are some of the initiatives promoted by Caritas for the inmates of the penitentiary center.
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