Over 60% of released detainees want to reintegrate into society

More than 60% of the prisoners set free want to reintegrate into society, while the rest are either wealthy persons for whom reintegration is not a problem or cannot or do not want to find their place in society and commit offenses again, according to specialists, Info-Prim Neo reports. The problem of reintegration of the former detainees was discussed in a meeting of the Council of the Coordinating Center for Social Adaptation of Released Prisoners on September 9. Vladimir Popa, deputy head of the Central Probation Office who is also the Council’s secretary, said the former detainees are often rejected by society. “They thus do not see other ways out than to commit crimes again and return to prison,” he said. Victor Zaharia, director of the Penal Reform Institute, said the Council’s top priority is to ensure better coordination between the institutions involved. “The monitoring of this process revealed system drawbacks. For example, some of the functionaries believe this is not a major problem for society. Looking deeper, we see that ignoring this category of people we give new human resources to the criminal community, while the attention devoted to them means labor force, parents in the family, taxpayers, etc.,” said Victor Zaharia. Veaceslav Ceban, head of the Ministry of Justice’s Department of Penitentiary Institutions, said the reintegration of former prisoners into society and their employment are serious problems that are within the remit not only of the Department, but also of such institutions as the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor. “We are to draft a plan of action that would contain measures aimed at ensuring communication between different services so as to see how the person can be successfully reintegrated with society,” said Veaceslav Ceban. Deputy Prime Minister Mihai Moldovanu said the state bodies and the people must contribute to the reintegration of former detainees. He stated that by the end of September every member of the Council must prepare by a plan of action in this respect. In the next meeting at the start of October, there will be approved the new regulations of the Council and probably extended its composition. “I want this Council to be not only a reporting body, but also a decision-making body that would help those dealing with such problems,” he said. According to the Department of Penitentiary Institutions, there are 6,300 detainees in Moldova at present. The Probation Service keeps under supervision 7 785 persons released from prison.