Charity Workers Help Amnestied Prisoners and Their Families
The amnesty granted by the Czech Republic President Václav Klaus affects also the workers of the Diocesan Charity in České Budějovice. Those who ask them for help most often are the families of those who were amnestied, or the amnestied prisoners themselves, who currently are not in jail – that is those, who were released on parole or those who were sentenced to community service. The workers also help them to find and provide them with accommodation and food.
„Since the amnesty was granted, we have dealt with 30 requests related to this topic in the EVA Counselling Center. Most of the questions were related to the scope of the amnesty – they asked us if the amnesty concerns them or their family members who are currently serving the sentence, and if so, what are they supposed to do, or if they have to for example apply for the amnesty and so on,” told us the head of the EVA Counselling Center Lucie Kolářová.
The clients also asked the Center to help them with contacting the prisons where their family members are imprisoned, as they wished to know when they are supposed to be released. “In cases like that, we usually recommend them to wait for the court decision. The courts primarily deal with the cases when the prisoners still serve their sentence, and then they deal with those, who were given a conditional discharge or were sentenced to community service,” claims the head of the Center.
It is expectable that the Charity workers will be asked for help by other amnestied prisoners or their relatives, too. “We are expecting that in the next few days or weeks, people who were released will come to our Center and will need our help with dealing with accommodation, debts and finding a job. We are able to provide help either directly at our Center, or thanks to our field programme – directly at the homes of the clients whose family members were affected by the presidential amnesty,” clarified Kolářová.
The Diocesan Charity in České Budějovice arranges the accommodation for the amnestied prisoners as well as food. “There is a new shelter in Jindřichův Hradec and three of the amnestied prisoners are already staying there. We also provide the amnestied with food, because they were released basically without having any money. Pastes or non-perishable food are ideal for this purpose,” told us the directress of the Charity Michaela Čermáková.
Contacts:
Mgr. Michaela Čermáková, the Directress of the Diocesan Charity in České Budějovice
Lucie Kolářová, Head of the Eva Counselling Center
