The Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, has highlighted the professionalism, humanity, empathy and generosity of the men and women who make up the staff of the penitentiary center of Melilla in its constitutional mandate to reeducate and reintegrate the inmates.
“It is now 30 years since you began your journey in this center, three decades dedicated to giving the best of yourselves to fulfill your constitutional mandate, with the task of reeducating and reintegrating into society those people who have been deprived of their freedom, as stated in our Constitution,” said the highest representative of the Government of Spain in our city, in her speech in the institutional act on the occasion of the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Mercy.
Something, he added, “that you have chosen to do voluntarily the women and men who decided to be part of this great family, a vocational profession with an essential human burden to give meaning to the constitutional mandate of reintegration.”
At the same time, Moh stressed that each of the professionals who make up the staff of the center “constitute a fundamental piece in the complex task that you must carry out in your day to day”, so he stressed that acts such as the one of today “are necessary to thank, publicly, your commitment, dedication, responsibility and vocation of service”.
A work, he said, that “you carry out discreetly and quietly, a work that requires a great effort and that, sometimes, often goes unnoticed, an essential and necessary task at the same time as unknown”. Therefore, the Delegate, once again, has given them her commitment and willingness to work in a coordinated way and make her professionalism visible.
No significant incidents
“You have managed to forge a calm environment, without significant incidents, a center that today has 178 inmates, 170 men and 8 women who are looking for another opportunity in society and who could not find it without your great doses of professionalism, humanity, empathy and generosity,” he said.
And all this, he said, “is possible thanks to you and yourselves, but also to those people who preceded you, but who, although they are no longer among you, left us their great legacy and whose families I want to transfer, from here, our affection”.
Moh also had a few words for the new additions that are integrating the system and that, together with the most veterans, “you have the obligation to continue taking care of and protecting what has been built throughout your history.”
“Professionals of the Penitentiary Center of Melilla, you are a pride for our society”, he said, and pointed out that his commitment “that drives you to serve it, makes you become an increasingly necessary collective”.
Therefore, the Delegate has invited them to continue working, “as I am sure you will, with the same dedication as until now, with the certainty that you will continue to have the support of all citizens.”
Example to follow
In her speech, the head of the Government Delegation had words of congratulations to all the honored and decorated people. “A well-deserved recognition of your work and that sets you as an example to be followed by all,” he said.
He also thanked all the relatives and loved ones of the large prison institutional family because “you are the daily support of our professionals and a fundamental pillar so that they can carry out their functions”.
Moh has stressed the importance of commemorating, every year, La Merced, given that the Patroness of Penitentiary Institutions “is a figure that represents values and principles that should guide your work.” Values such as solidarity, empathy, companionship, dedication or generosity, he said.
“That is why it is necessary to continue celebrating every year, in an act like this where the citizens can know the immense work that you develop and that, society as a whole, we can praise your enormous professionalism,” he said.
Finally, the Delegate congratulated all the professionals who serve in the Melilla Penitentiary Centre on behalf of the Government of Spain, the Minister of the Interior, and his own.
Rehabilitative programs
For his part, the Director of the penitentiary center, Francisco Rebollo, has stressed the importance of commemorating the festivity of the Patron of Penitentiary Institutions, to honor the people who “with their effort and sacrifice enlarge it, and recognize those who day by day improve it, maintaining their identity signs, but also contributing initiatives that allow us to respond to the new organizational and legal challenges.”
Thus, he has claimed the great commitment of the professionals who make up the center, “who every day are involved in getting the Institution to successfully achieve its goals”, to whom he has thanked the effort and voluntariness, as well as their capacity for sacrifice and dedication in committed moments contributing to the social reintegration of the inmates and to the defense of their rights to education, training, health and work. “You do an impeccable daily job,” he said.
Rebollo has referred to our Constitution and its Article 25, which establishes that custodial sentences and security measures will be oriented towards re-education and social reintegration. “This ongoing effort to achieve this goal, in search of greater effectiveness and more dignity, has allowed many rehabilitation programs to be implemented,” he said.
Thus, it has pointed out that, throughout this year, they have organized cultural weeks around educational activities, training-occupational workshops, and scheduled departures, they have promoted campaigns with drug addicts, with those convicted of crimes of gender violence, personal development programs with foreign inmates, programs promoting equality and training for employment, among others.
But in addition, he has stressed that the Melilla is a quiet center, with an average of 170 inmates and 8 inmates throughout the year, with five inmates with telematic devices, monitoring 30 conditional releases and 15 inmates in probation. “Since January 1, 130 exit permits have been authorized for second grade inmates and inmates; 89 permits, for third grades; and 497 weekend permits, with a 99.7% positive result,” he said.
In fact, he has pointed out that the number of incidents is lower than those that occur in the other Penitentiary Centers, with the seizure of prohibited objects being the most prominent incident. “So far this year, 340 prohibited objects have been seized, including 42 mobiles,” he explained, while indicating that the files for attacks have been reduced, the most serious being carried out by inmates with mental problems.
“It is the officials who achieve, with their daily work, this orderly and peaceful coexistence, and I ask them to remain motivated with their work,” he said.
“We must row together towards reinsertion, it is through this that the true and complete social victory over crime and its consequences occurs,” he said, since “the sentence and its fulfillment are not exhausted except when it determines in the prisoner the ability to return to society with the will to build and improve coexistence, repairing the harm produced to the victim and restoring bankruptcy in the social harmony that crime produces.” “This is the legal mandate and the desideratum that permeates our task,” he said.
In his address, the head of the penitentiary center thanked the Government Delegate for her support, and highlighted the integral reform of the Closed Regime and Nursing departments, integral kitchen reform, perimeter and interior security reform, sanitation reform and the construction of the new entrance building. “These works are included in the Amortization and Creation of Penitentiary Centers Plan (PACEP) and entail an investment of 1.8 million euros,” he said.
Social purposes
Francisco Rebollo, in his speech, wanted to have words of praise for the entities, institutions and companies that collaborate with the social purposes pursued by the penitentiary center.
Thus, he thanked the “generosity and commitment” of the Christian Volunteering of Prisons, of the Red Cross that collaborates in the Program of Attention to Drug Addicts, of Melilla Acova, of FEAFES, of the Brotherhood Our Father Jesus of Medinaceli and Our Lady of Rocío and of the Melilla Football Federation, among others.
He has also thanked the professionals of the National Police, an institution responsible for external surveillance and the continuous movement of inmates to courts and for medical assistance, as well as the Civil Guard, who carry out the transfers of inmates to the peninsula.
In the chapter of thanks, Rebollo has had words for the judges and prosecutors for their “proximity and collaboration”, something that “is one of the pillars to achieve the good progress of the center.”
Recognition of workers and institutions
The event has served the Penitentiary Center to honor both the workers of the center, for the involvement and professionalism shown, as well as people and institutions that collaborate with the center, such as the Superior Chief of Police, José Antonio Togores; the Dean of the College of Lawyers, Blas Jesús Imbroda, on behalf of the lawyers “for promoting the importance that the right to defense has for our inmates and inmates”; Buzzian Mohand of Eulen, for his work as a private security guard and for the continuous training of inmates in sports activities and Desmona of Flamenco.