Smiles behind Bars: The Untold Stories from the Jail
Presenter Status
PhD candidate, AIIAS; Faculty, De La Salle University-Dasmarinas
Presentation Type
Oral presentation
Presentation Abstract
Being in jail is an experience everyone tries to avoid. The trauma of being in jail is so debilitating that some who go to jail never recover from that experience. Some people disown their family members who are put in jail because of the stigma attached to being incarcerated. Five stories of male and female inmates were used in this study to explain the unbearable pains they are experiencing. Anchored on volunteerism theory related to the theory of sympathy (Clark, 1987/1997), this narrative inquiry research found out how jail volunteers’ visits, philanthropic deeds, and interaction with the inmates in a city jail in the Philippines touched their lives and well-being. Untold stories were unleashed as the volunteers’ good deeds impacted the lives of the inmates thus, brought smiles to their faces again.
KEYWORDS: narrative inquiry, inmates, incarcerated and volunteers
Biographical Sketch
Evelyn R. Obo-Rayos is a fulltime faculty of the Languages and Literature Department of De La Salle University-Dasmarinas. She is currently a PhD candidate in Curriculum and Instruction program of AIIAS. Her research interest includes women, widows and their children, educators’ craft, and leadership. She has a son named Von whom she is very proud of.
Ebenezer Danquah, a national from Ghana in the Western part of Africa is a PhD in curriculum and instruction student in AIIAS. He is an ordained minister of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and has been involved in social work in Ghana. He is now the coordinator of the Dasmarinas City jail ministry program in AIIAS.
Smiles behind Bars: The Untold Stories from the Jail
Being in jail is an experience everyone tries to avoid. The trauma of being in jail is so debilitating that some who go to jail never recover from that experience. Some people disown their family members who are put in jail because of the stigma attached to being incarcerated. Five stories of male and female inmates were used in this study to explain the unbearable pains they are experiencing. Anchored on volunteerism theory related to the theory of sympathy (Clark, 1987/1997), this narrative inquiry research found out how jail volunteers’ visits, philanthropic deeds, and interaction with the inmates in a city jail in the Philippines touched their lives and well-being. Untold stories were unleashed as the volunteers’ good deeds impacted the lives of the inmates thus, brought smiles to their faces again.
KEYWORDS: narrative inquiry, inmates, incarcerated and volunteers