Humane credit for the erring

Rebuilding life with policy capital

Welcoming us with a shy smile, his hands dirty from checking the truck ready for a new shipment, Mr. Huynh Trung Tu (born in 1989), residing in Minh Cau hamlet, Minh Hop commune (Quy Hop) honestly shared that he had served a 7-year and 4-month prison sentence for "Murder". Before that, just because he wanted to see his child and reconnect with his wife but was not accepted, with alcohol in his body, Tu pulled out a knife and stabbed his wife and then committed suicide but failed. The cruel stab caused his young wife to leave forever, and Tu also had to pay the price before the law.

After serving his prison sentence, returning to the community, having no capital to do business, and having a young child of school age, the man faced many temptations in life. Fortunately, the Commune Police and the Neighborhood Credit and Loan Group paid attention to information and advice on preferential loan policies according to Decision 22/2023/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister. Mr. Tu discussed with his family to apply for a loan to start a business and rebuild his life.

Ms. Tran Thi Lan, Head of the Credit and Loan Group of Minh Cau hamlet, Minh Hop commune, said: As soon as the program was launched, we held a meeting with the hamlet executive committee, associations and unions to consider the criteria and conditions for Mr. Tu. Mr. Tu himself is a hard-working person, and his family is very supportive and guarantees the loan, so the Group agreed to propose to the Commune People's Committee and the District Social Policy Bank Transaction Office to lend Mr. Tu 100 million VND from the preferential credit source for people who have completed their prison sentences.

With the capital support, Mr. Tu bought 60,000 acacia seedlings to cultivate on his family's forest area. When the acacia trees were green and lush, to have more income to support his children's education, Mr. Tu took on a job as a truck driver, and the family's economy gradually stabilized.

Similarly, a moment of not being able to control himself also made Mr. Nguyen Cong Hoan (born in 1982), residing in Minh Kinh hamlet, Minh Hop commune, pay the price with a 1-year prison sentence for the crime of "Intentionally causing injury". When her husband received the sentence, Ms. Truong Thi Thanh Huyen - Mr. Hoan's wife had to shoulder the family's financial burden, take care of her elderly parents and 3 young children.

While serving his sentence at Nghe An Provincial Police Detention Center, Mr. Hoan was informed about the loan program by the officers. So when he returned home, he immediately discussed with his wife about making a file, and the couple seemed to have found a way out of their family's impasse. With a capital of 100 million VND, the couple borrowed another 10 million VND from relatives to buy 65,000 acacia seedlings and fertilizer to plant forests.

“My husband and I were very happy to get the loan, but we also felt pressured because the local community and the loan group had put a lot of trust in us, and if we couldn’t complete the loan, we were afraid that everyone would be disappointed. Luckily, with the help of our neighbors, our family’s 2 hectares of acacia trees are now as green as a person’s body,” Huyen shared.

After planting the family's acacia hill, Mr. Hoan applied for a job as a construction worker. His salary was enough to cover the family's basic needs as well as pay the interest of 570,000 VND/month, enough to deposit 100,000 VND in savings through the village's Savings and Loan Group. Talking to us, Mr. Hoan and his wife, Ms. Huyen, expressed their hope that after 4 years, with the money they earned from the 2 hectares of acacia, their family would be able to repay the loan and have more capital to continue developing the economy.

These are just 2 of 293 people who have completed their prison sentences in Nghe An and have been able to borrow capital with preferential interest rates. Thanks to this source of capital, many new opportunities have been opened up for those who have made mistakes and returned.

Preventing the risk of re-offending

Nghe An is a locality with a large number of people who have completed their prison sentences and returned to their hometown every year. However, the reality shows that people who have completed their prison sentences and returned still face many difficulties in reintegrating into the community, and it is difficult to find a job, leading to not having enough conditions to support themselves. This easily creates a negative mentality, causing them to return to the path of crime.

Therefore, Decision No. 22/2023/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on credit for people who have completed their prison sentences is like a flame that lights up the hope of rebuilding the lives of those who have completed their prison sentences and returned to their localities. In that spirit, on November 14, 2023, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued Plan No. 860/KH-UBND to concretize the humane and humanitarian policies of the Party and State. The plan clearly assigns tasks to relevant agencies, departments, branches and units to help people who have completed their prison sentences as well as businesses that employ people who have served prison sentences to borrow capital for vocational training and production, business, job creation, life stabilization, community reintegration, contributing to ensuring security, order and socio-economic development.

Accordingly, those who borrow capital for vocational training can borrow up to 4 million VND/month. As for those who have completed their prison sentence and borrow capital for production, business, and job creation, they can borrow up to 100 million VND. For businesses with people who have completed their sentences, they can borrow up to 2 billion VND/project and not more than 100 million VND/worker at the production and business establishment. The loan interest rate is equal to the loan interest rate for poor households prescribed for each period.

Based on that, the police at all levels will be responsible for propagating and disseminating policies to prisoners serving sentences and those who have completed their sentences and are eligible. In particular, the commune police will be the unit directly making a list of eligible borrowers.

The credit and loan group as well as the local authorities at the commune level will meet to discuss and evaluate the criteria and conditions of the applicant, and evaluate the feasibility of the loan application to ensure objectivity and the right target. These are the "barriers" that help minimize the risks that may be encountered in the process of lending to people who have completed their prison sentences.

Ms. Le Thi Minh - Head of Minh Cau Hamlet, Minh Hop Commune (Quy Hop), a member of the Credit and Loan Group, said: "The State has paid attention to creating good policies for those who have rehabilitated, so there is no reason for us to abandon those who have returned from serving their sentences. In particular, most of those who have returned from serving their sentences are neighbors, some of whom we consider as our children and grandchildren. Not only do we regularly care for and visit them, we also join hands to contribute our efforts to support and encourage them to develop their economy, stabilize their lives, and limit the risk of reoffending in the community."

It is known that after more than 1 year of implementing the preferential credit program according to Decision 22/2023/QD-TTg, by the end of November 2024, the Social Policy Bank branches and the Social Policy Bank transaction offices at district level in the province have processed loan applications and procedures for 293 customers with a disbursed amount of 26.5 billion VND.

Mr. Hoang Son Lam - Deputy Director of the Social Policy Bank branch shared: "It has only been implemented for 1 year, it is still too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the models, but this is really a practical program to help people who have made mistakes remove psychological barriers, creating opportunities for them to rebuild their lives. Since its implementation, all loan customers have guaranteed interest payment time and have monthly savings. With a strict loan assessment process, it has contributed to demonstrating the effectiveness, feasibility as well as the efforts and responsibility of the borrowers."