Shadowing an ‘Angel’ at a Filipino Jail

Jesus tells us to visit those who are in prison, and one day we shadowed someone who takes that command to heart: Sister Lianne Rainville with the Daughters of Wisdom. She’s been visiting female inmates in Manila, Philippines for about 16 years. Two to three times a week she goes to a “holding facility.” That’s where women who have been arrested live under lock-and-key, while they wait to be tried. Some have waited up to seven years for their day in court!

In the meantime, these women are completely dependent on family and friends to supply their basic needs. In the Philippines, the jail gives them a bed and meals, but that’s it. If they need soap, toothpaste, shampoo, you name it, someone’s got to go to the jail and give it to them.

Unfortunately, most of the nearly 600 women crammed into this facility built to hold 175 have no family or friends looking in on them. Only Sr. Lianne.  With funds we provide, Sr. Lianne goes to the store and buys them basic supplies, medicines, and other items. She also brings materials for the women to make handcrafted items they can sell for some income. The warden told us that 80 percent of the women there have no visitors and totally rely on Sr. Lianne for their provision.