Diary of an elective student

Isaura goes to jail

Expectations

So far during my elective within Philippines places of detention, I’ve been working with sick police detainees. Today was my first visit to a jail. I have seen them depicted in films, TV and social media. And I’ve seen a YouTube video of my one of my favourite artists, Lauren Daigle, leading worship inside an American prison. But what would reality be like? This week I got to find out, when I joined Integritas’ good friend POC Ministries for one of its visits to a local jail.

The entrance was a lot less high secure than I had imagined it would be. I wondered if the detainees came in through the same gate. The jail itself was a lot more open plan than I thought it was going to be, and we were in an area that looked like a sheltered campground.

Persons

I was greeted by a moderately sized group of people in bright yellow T-shirts gathered in the sheltered campground area. On their shirts was a phrase that stood out to me: 'Persons deprived of liberty'.

I like this shift from viewing someone as a prisoner - a term that is often marked with shame, labelling and negative connotations - to a person deprived of liberty. This emphasises their humanity. We tend to regard other people in terms of how they are different to us, so such small things matter. The way we label people matters. Labels influence identity.

Colour

Despite the sea of yellow, there were little hints of individuality on display - particular hair styles and unique pairs of shorts. And across the way, I noticed a display of art. They were beautiful paintings in a wide array of colour. I hadn’t been allowed to bring in my camera, so I took a lot of mental images.

Another colourful sight was the praise and worship that followed the prayer time. It was in Tagalog so I couldn’t understand the lyrics and didn't recognise the melodies either, but I tried to sing along. The PDLs were so joyful and energetic. You could see joy radiating from their smiles and sways. You could also see the Spirit moving the lead singer and the keyboard player. Their passion for Jesus was clear.

I reflected that music is a universal vehicle to move people’s hearts towards Christ, and to lift up their spirits even if they may not have taken the step of accepting Him into their lives.

I noticed was that most of the PDLs seemed to know the songs, despite the fact that there were no lyrics on display. This prompted the musician in me to wonder if they sang those songs all the time. I found myself becoming emotional, preparing in my mind the short message that I was going to give them about how God sees them where they are, no matter what.

Liberty

Many of my patients have been brought to police stations under suspicion of committing very serious crimes such as child abuse, drug dealing and sexual offences. After many weeks or months in custody suites, most of them will end up in jail whilst awaiting their trial. Despite the cheerful yellow T-shirts and sanitising PDL label, these criminal charges (+/- convictions) carry significant stigma and shame.

When it was time for the preacher to give her message/sermon, she did not shy away from calls to repentance. She talked about what this truly means and how it has impacted her personally. She emphasised obedience to God and how - no matter what we may have done in the past - repentance is possible, His forgiveness is achievable, and He can still use you in the future. That in itself is a form of liberty.

Dr Isaura Koroma is an elective student from the UK’s University of Sunderland.
Her opinion does not necessarily represent that of Integritas Healthcare.
8th May 2026