Prison is a harsh reality, and problems such as overcrowding, lack of facilities and resources, and episodes of violence generate a lot of suffering there. However, it can also become a place of rebirth, both moral and material, in which the dignity of women and men is not “incommunicated” but is promoted through mutual respect and the nurturing of talents and abilities, perhaps dormant or imprisoned by the vicissitudes of life, but that can re-emerge for the good of all and that deserve attention and trust. Nobody takes away people’s dignity, nobody!
So, paradoxically, a stay in a prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of an unsuspected beauty in ourselves and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event they host and to whose project they actively contribute; It can become like a work of reconstruction, in which you bravely look at and evaluate your own life, eliminate what is not needed, what hinders, harms or is dangerous, draws up a plan and begins again by digging foundations and returning, in the light of experience, to put brick after brick, together, with determination. That is why it is essential that the penitentiary system also offers prisoners tools and spaces for human, spiritual, cultural and professional growth, creating the conditions for their healthy reintegration. Please do not “isolate dignity.” Not “isolating dignity”, but offering new possibilities!
Let us not forget that we all have mistakes to forgive and wounds to heal, me too, and that we can all become healed that bring healing, forgiven that bring forgiveness, reborn that bring rebirth.