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February 28, 2017  |  By Douglas Keillor In News

This weekend, a mother saw her son for the first time in three years

This past weekend, we started our monthly “Family Reunification” project for children in prison in Chihuahua state. Olivia Meneses, our project director, worked with the prison´s list of four teenagers who have not had visitors for months. They all live at least three hours outside the city and come from extreme poverty. We arranged bus tickets for them at the terminal and they were ready to go see their children.

All except one mother. She hadn’t seen her son in three years. But, after trying for two weeks to get a hold of her, we gave up. Then the prison social worker called us the night before. Her son in prison wanted to see his mother. So, Olivia started trying again. Olivia got a hold of a relative in a nearby village. Messages were passed back and forth. Finally, Olivia spoke with her husband. But, she lived 8 hours away. She would have to get on a bus that very night at midnight and ride all night to the city in order to make it for visiting hours at 9am on Saturday. She was excited. But she was scared too. She lived in the country, a very humble woman who had never been to the city. After we purchased the ticket, as she sat in the terminal preparing to leave, she began to panic. Olivia spoke with her on the phone, imploring her to be brave, that God would be with her, that her son needed to see her. She got on the bus. When she arrived in the city, one of our local volunteers picked her up and drove her to the prison. From 9 am until 1 pm, she got to spend time with her son. Then it was eight hours back home.

This weekend, one mother spent sixteen hours on a bus to spend four hours with her son who she hadn’t seen for three years. Words cannot express what that means to her and her son. And it was thanks to your support of our Family Reunification project, part of our Mobilize Mexico project, to mobilize volunteers and churches to respond to the needs of children in prison.

Thank you for making this weekend a huge success. It was one small step for these four families. But it means the world to them and their children.

Consider supporting our Mobilize Mexico project directly. Your contribution goes to Care Packages, Family Reunification, Workshops and Special Events inside the prisons that directly benefit children and their families. We coordinate these projects, but they are carried out by Mexican volunteers, local students, churches, and community members committed to caring out justice and compassion one child at a time.

Click here to contribute to Mobilize Mexico

Chihuahua families Family Reunification Juvenile Detention
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March 26th Webinar on COVID-19 and Challenges to the Juvenile Justice System in Mexico – Spanish only:

https://youtu.be/52zianCu_3A

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US-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Copyrights Reserved ©2022

Guerrero

Después de años de lucha y problemas de inseguridad, decidimos en 2022 cerrar nuestro proyecto en Guerrero. Pudimos implementar nuestro instrumento de evaluación previa al juicio para garantizar que los jóvenes de bajo riesgo permanezcan en sus comunidades. Y brindamos apoyo a más de 220 jóvenes, como parte de nuestro proyecto de Movilizando Voluntarios.

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Chiapas

Por invitación del Poder Judicial del Estado de Chiapas, realizamos un estudio para evaluar la viabilidad de implementar nuestros proyectos en la región. En 2022, nuestro equipo presentó los resultados y recomendaciones. El gobierno estatal ahora está decidiendo cómo quieren colaborar con nosotros en el futuro.

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Guerrero

After years of struggle and security issues, we decided in 2022 to close our project in Guerrero. We were able to implement our pretrial screening instrument to ensure low-risk youth stay in their communities. And we provided support to over 220 youths, as part of our Mobilize and Empower project.

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Chiapas

In the state of Chiapas, at the invitation of the state judiciary, we conducted a study to assess the viability of implementing our projects. In 2022, our team presented the results and recommendations. The state government is now deciding how they want to collaborate with us in the future.

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CDMX

Vista como líder nacional en las prácticas del sistema de justicia, la Ciudad de México tiene más adolescentes en detención que cualquier otra jurisdicción. Sin embargo, también ha desarrollado una unidad de seguimiento en libertad con numerosas alianzas con organizaciones. Nuestros proyectos fortalecerán esta área crítica.

JJI está trabajando en la Ciudad de México desde dos vertientes. En Alternativas a la Detención con un monitoreo que comenzó en 2019, pero por causas sanitarias y la pandemia por COVID, se retomó dos años después con un equipo de especialistas el cual ya está preparándose para continuar la actividad. En Movilizando voluntarios, se continúa con los esfuerzos para reunir a más adolescentes con sus familias, gracias al apoyo: “Reunificación familiar”. Así como también se han realizado entrega de enseres en los 6 centros.

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Durango

A pesar de tener un número menor de adolescentes en el sistema de justicia, Durango es una jurisdicción que busca la mejora continua. Durango es el primer estado donde tanto el poder judicial como el ejecutivo han firmado convenios de colaboración para la implementación de nuestros proyectos de Alternativas a la Detención.

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Chihuahua

Chihuahua es nuestro sitio piloto y un estado considerado líder en la reforma penal en México. Nuestros proyectos comenzaron en el 2016. Desde entonces, los tiempos en detención preventiva han disminuido, los adolescentes son supervisados con mayor eficiencia en sus comunidades y se ha mejorado la calidad de vida de aquellos adolescentes que siguen privados de su libertad.

En Chihuahua trabajamos con varios proyectos, como son el monitoreo que se trabaja en conjunto con la autoridad, y con los adolescentes y sus familias trabajamos en talleres, mesas de trabajo, eventos lúdicos, acompañamiento post penal, reubicaciones y traslados de familiares para audiencias y visitas, así como donaciones de enseres, ropa y material deportivo.

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Chihuahua

A national leader in criminal procedural reforms, our pilot project in Chihuahua started in 2016. Since that time the rates and duration of pretrial detention have declined, youth are being successfully supervised in their communities and new programs in the detention center have improved daily life for those children still deprived of liberty.

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CDMX

Looked to as the national leader in youth justice practices, Mexico City has more youth in detention than any other jurisdiction but has also developed a robust probation office and numerous alliances with nonprofits. Our projects will further fortify this critical work.

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Durango

Despite being a smaller jurisdiction, Durango is constantly looking to improve. Durango is the first state where both the Executive Branch and Judicial Branch have signed Memorandum of Understanding to launch the Alternatives to Detention initiatives.

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