Lingkod Laya, a project by the Junior Bedan Law Circle, aims to restore the dignity and liberty of Manila City Jail’s prisoners by helping them maintain good health, while in detention, and assisting them in the process of their release. In recognition of their effort, Lenovo, the official technology partner of the annual TAYO (Ten Accomplished Youth Organization) Awards since 2011, awarded on the Junior Bedan Law Circle, a technology grant in the form of a brand new Lenovo S145 laptop.
The laptop was granted at the recently concluded 17th TAYO Awards. Lenovo believes that, through the grant, the organization can more efficiently and effectively help digitize the prisoners’ database of records, allowing them to address heath-related matters and speed up the release of the inmates.
“As a global leader in innovation, our mission at Lenovo is to provide everyone with smarter technology that can solve problems and create opportunities. We are proud to recognize the contributions of the Junior Bedan Law Circle and to play a critical role in enhancing the crucial points of our correctional systems. As a people-centric organization, Lenovo hopes to give back to society by aiding and empowering former detainees in their attempt to attain a second chance in life,” said Michael Ngan, President and General Manager, Lenovo Philippines.
The Junior Bedan Law Circle is the student organization of the Legal Management Department of the San Beda University College of Arts and Sciences. Their Lingkod Laya project unclogs the court dockets involved in processing the release of Manila City Jail inmates. This kind of assistance is badly needed, as the current proceedings have become congested.
Right now, the Manila City Jail houses over 6,400 inmates despite its ideal capacity of only 1,100. It only has two paralegals processing their release and there is no centralized database of records – all all releases are processed manually.
“Our organization believes that inmates are still humans despite having committed crimes, and just like everybody else, they deserve love, care, and compassion, and are entitled to rights. We also believe that they deserve a chance to redeem themselves because, at the end of the day, they still have the right to live,” said Christine Yvonne Balinas, Community Involvement Chairperson of the Junior Bedan Law Circle. “This is why we are committed to helping inmates attain liberty and live a healthier life despite being behind bars.”
The Lenovo IdeaPad S145 comes with (up to) an 8th-Gen Intel Core i7-8565U processor (about 40% faster than previous generation chips), an NVIDIA GeForce MX110 graphics card (which greatly helps with creating graphics and videos for school projects and presentations). The IdeaPad S45 has the speed, the graphic performance, and the ample storage to meet the needs of students, so they can both create and save the content (term papers, essays, videos, photo assignments, other documents) they need to survive at school.
The grant provided by Lenovo has also allowed the Junior Bedan Law Circle’s plans to expand the project to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City and in their next venture of developing an employment system for former convicts. The organization also aims to use the grant in their upcoming Project Ligaya, a well-being program that seeks to support children in conflict with the law at the Manila Youth Rehabilitation Center.
