Home  »   Worldwide Work  »   Europe - Central & East  »   Romania  »   Articles  »   Helping Inmates in Penitentiaries

Helping Inmates in Penitentiaries

Bucharest, Romania

At Juliava penitentiary
At Juliava penitentiary

Over the past four years we have been assisting the authorities at Jilava Penitentiary. Some highlights for the last two years are:

In 2007:

  • Easter program for 150 prisoners. We sang songs and read portions from the Activated magazine, which we later distributed to all.
  • We started a program called Health for Body and Soul in partnership with the dental faculty at Carol Davila University in Bucharest. They provided dental check-ups to the inmates, and our team offered counseling and prayer. This was a weekly project which lasted over four months.
  • Penitentiary Day: Our volunteers performed with well-known Romanian singers for 150 prisoners. The program consisted of meaningful songs, and issues of the Activated magazine were distributed to all attendees.
  • We organized the donation and delivery of sanitary accessories, such as showers and sinks, as well as food.
  • We presented a Christmas program for 150 prisoners. We sang songs, read portions from the Activated magazine, and later distributed the Activated Christmas issue to all.

In 2008:

  • In March we participated in the national anti-violence week by holding a seminar against violence, which was filmed and later shown to the rest of the 2500 inmates over the internal TV network.
  • Our children’s singing and dancing group performed at Easter to a select audience. The show was filmed and later aired for the rest of the inmates.

Originally Published in 2008.