Collaborative partnerships play a significant role in addressing the increasing challenges in the rehabilitation and reintegration of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs). The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), counsel of the majority of PDLs in the Philippines, acknowledges the truth in this. Consequently, PAO has the Bureau of Corrections and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology as its two major partner-institutions in the Philippine government whose duties and responsibilities are focused on PDLs.

In this completed research paper, the justice-health partnerships between PAO and said bureaus are thoroughly reviewed within a human rights framework. The PAO’s two outreach programs for PDLs are evaluated regarding their contributions to correctional concerns.

The PAO has vital collaborations too, with private hospitals and an optical shop, in connection with its PAO-Central Office Legal, Medical, Dental, and Optical Jail Visitation Program. These efforts address the imbalance in the patient-doctor ratio in the said correctional institutions.

The success and challenges in these public and private collaborations are analyzed as well.
The sources of empirical data in this study are the pieces of information that were gathered during actual jail visitations of PAO. Informed consent, confidentiality where it had to be applied, and other ethical requirements were observed in this research.

There is a widened participation of the private sector in this study. The partners of PAO from the private sector reflect the good side of private citizens who look beyond the stigma which some people still attach to PDLs.

Justice-Health Partnerships, Public-Private Collaborations: Address the Increasing Challenges in the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Persons Deprived of Liberty (PID090)

Speakers

Dr. Persida Acosta DSD,JD