THE HOUSING FOR PRISONERS AND FAMILY MEMBERS WILL BE MANAGED BY THE PASTORAL

Cáritas inaugurates a house to welcome refugees and another for prisoners and their families

The first, managed by the Prison Ministry, seeks to provide shelter for those prisoners from other islands when they are on leave or for family members who want to visit them. The second could be the home of a family of war refugees...

September 28 2015 (20:35 WEST)
Caritas inaugurates a house to welcome refugees and another for prisoners and their families
Caritas inaugurates a house to welcome refugees and another for prisoners and their families

PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort.

 

Cáritas inaugurated two new reception homes in Arrecife last Friday. These two apartments, located at number 35 Triana Street in the capital, will serve as a home for refugees arriving on the island and also for prisoners on leave or family members of prisoners who come from outside Lanzarote to attend prison visits. 

The home that will be the home of the prisoners when they leave on leave will be managed by the Prison Ministry of Lanzarote and is named after a parish priest who knew the situation of the prisoners very closely, "Chaplain Father Agapito". "He was in Valterra for many years and was also the chaplain of the prison for many years. He died recently and his dream was always to have a shelter," explains Mari Carmen Dorta, from the Prison Ministry.

That house has capacity for four people, who will have a place to sleep and also food. An educator or monitor will be in charge of managing their stay and instilling that the "rules of coexistence" are respected. Still waiting to find the "right person" for that task, Dorta estimates that the shelter will be operating in November. 

The objective of the Pastoral is that the housing can be available to all prisoners and family members who need it. For this reason, Dorta points out, they have made "participants" in the initiative the different groups that work in the penitentiary center, such as the Evangelical Church. "In the end, their purpose is the same: to try to reintegrate these people into society," she emphasizes. 

"There are inmates from Fuerteventura, the peninsula or other places who have already served part of their sentence and should be given a permit of 3, 4 or 5 days and cannot request it because they have nowhere to go," explains this member of the Pastoral.  Family members who want to go to Tahíche are in the same situation, but cannot afford the expense of having to spend the night in Lanzarote. The intention of the Pastoral is that families can also stay overnight in the house, for a "symbolic price". 

In addition, the Pastoral will coordinate with the Tahíche prison itself to be able to respond to all requests they receive. Thus, if they find a waiting list of several inmates waiting to receive a permit and in need of a place to stay, "the prison gives priority, so as not to see ourselves saturated." "We will do it little by little, experimentally and if we see that the apartment is too small, we will have to look for something bigger," explains Dorta. 

Regarding the rules of coexistence, the Pastoral establishes "basic" rules of conduct, such as arriving on time for meals or not appearing under the effects of drugs or alcohol. In this regard, this member of the Lanzarote Prison Ministry emphasizes that "in Las Palmas, the apartments have been operating for 17 years and there have never been problems. The inmate who requests it knows where he is going and what he loses if he does not comply". 

 

A "first step" in welcoming refugees


As for the second shelter, it has been 'baptized' with the name of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and will serve as a home for a family of refugees. "When they arrive on the island, here is the house available for them," explains Miguel Hernández, parish priest of San Ginés in charge of Cáritas.

The priest explains that it is a 90 square meter house with capacity for 6 people. "We have tried to make it comfortable, a home, without luxuries, but decent," says the parish priest. Thus, this house is already available for when the first refugees arrive in Lanzarote and it is only "a first step". 

The intention of Cáritas, says the parish priest, is that other parishes also offer shelter to these families fleeing conflicts such as the one in Syria. The Cáritas coordinator on the island meets next week to discuss this issue "because of the Pope's call for the reception of families," explains the priest of San Ginés. 

"The Pope is clear and forceful, he said that all parishes and sanctuaries should welcome at least one family, so we are going to see how we channel that and respond to the Pope's request," concludes Miguel Hernández. 

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