The month of May brought to the forefront the concept of lived experiences in the criminal justice sector. This even as we continued with our flagship programs: Community Bail Bond and Better Versions. Now more than ever, we at PRESO Foundation see how much has been gained but much, much more needs to be done. COMMUNITY BAIL BOND PROGRAM What has been done: Our Program Field Officers continued with their regular activities that included conducting weekly monitoring/home visit

PDLs and PRLs are mentors, teachers and heralds of hope. Their lived experiences, inside and outside of prison, preached. And from these lived experiences, fraught with sufferings and difficulties, come forth thoughts and lessons that sparkle.

1st National Conference of Persons Restored of Liberty, held last May 22, 2026, placed formerly incarcerated individuals at the center of criminal justice system-reform. It recognizes that those who have experienced arrest, detention, incarceration, and reintegration offer valuable insights toward building a more humane, effective, and responsive justice system. Here is the sharing of Sally, a PRL that spent 30 years in prison.

The month of April was highlighted by increased activities for our Community Bail Bond, Bukas Loob Tungo sa Bagong Pag-Asa and BANDILA Aftercare Programs. This even as we started doubling efforts in the preparation for a major conference seeking to bring focus on the lived experiences of former PDL. COMMUNITY BAIL BOND PROGRAM What has been done: Our Program Field Officers continued with their regular activities that included conducting weekly monitoring/home visits of succes

Hopefully, more spaces will emerge where lived experience becomes part of policy-making rather than an afterthought. Hopefully, the voices of those who survived detention and incarceration will no longer remain at the margins of criminal justice discussions, but become essential to the design of laws, procedures, and correctional programs. Because if the criminal justice system truly exists for people, then people must also help shape it.

In a country where freedom is often purchased, the harshest sentence imposed upon the poor is not always conviction. More often, the harshest sentence is poverty itself.