Egresses from the prison system receive support from universities to restart

Universities, state secretariats and non-governmental organizations are offering courses, workshops and job opportunities for those leaving the prison system, especially for women, with the aim of reducing the obstacles encountered by this portion that seeks resocialization.

“It is a responsibility of all of us who are in society to welcome these people back and do something so that these people leave with new possibilities and positive opportunities, because negative possibilities they already have”, says Karine Vieira, president of the Responsa Institute, who works with the insertion of graduates in the labor market.

The UFABC (Federal University of ABC), for example, has open enrollment for the second group of the free Education Libertas course, aimed at women who have left prison or who have family members who are in prison.

The objective of the training, according to the university, is to “stimulate the development of autonomy and emancipation of these people through theoretical, reflective and practical tools”.

“We thought of a course that would allow women to understand and reflect on the condition they experience. Women who have to deal with the punitive system all the time, most of whom are black and poor. What are the consequences of this on their trajectory”, says the Professor Camila Nunes Dias, course coordinator.

In March of this year, the coordination of Libertas certified the first group of women enrolled in the course. The program had 60 applications, but 30 completed. Because of the pandemic, classes were virtual. For the second class, classes will be face-to-face.

According to the coordinator, all classes had texts indicated, with reading, theory and concepts. The professors tried to articulate all the theoretical reflection with the experience of the women participating in the course.

“We had writing workshops and legal workshops, which aim to give these women a basis so that they can seek their rights in the various organs of justice, the huge bureaucracies to which they are subject, or their children or partners in prison. They have a lot of sense of what they need to do, where they need to go.”

Also according to the coordinator, many participants of the course also reported realizing the racism they experience on a daily basis, based on the reflections awakened during the classes.

“They brought their personal experiences with speeches about racism, the issue of being a woman, the dimensions of it, perceptions. From the classes, many of them reported that they began to perceive the mechanisms of oppression for being women in their own homes”, she says. Camila.

Natália, 35, resident of the east side of SP, was one of the participants. Married and mother of five, she is looking for a new opportunity. She was apprehensive about starting the course because of the experiences she had previously.

“At first, I wasn’t very interested because I always had problems with school, I was never accepted by the teachers. So I was going to be just another one in the classroom. But I had the opportunity to meet wonderful people, who help me, still call me to know how I am, how my family is doing”, says Natália, who last year lost a two-year-old son to Covid-19.

Another topic that was frequently discussed was related to domestic violence. According to Miriam Duarte, coordinator of Cedeca (Centre for the Defense of Children and Adolescents), one of the entities that helped in designing the training, in many homes the woman is not even aware that she is being a victim.

“The husband screams, says that she is ugly, that it is this, that it is that. They are so mistreated that they normalize things, thinking that life is just that, and they cannot perceive that this is violence in her life. “

The program also had the help of Cooperativa Libertas, an entity that works on behalf of graduating women and made the bridge to take those interested to the university.

“The course was very important, a divisor in the lives of these women. They started to have the perception of what happened to them, on political issues, of racism that are directly affected, because the majority are black women”, says Geralda Ávila, coordinator of Libertas.

Registration for the second class of the UFABC course can be made until June 19. There are 60 vacancies for face-to-face meetings that will address the themes of feminism and other movements, gender and race and gender and punishment. Workshops on writing, legal practices and economic autonomy will also be developed. Information can be found on the institution’s website.

Other educational institutions throughout the country also reserve places in courses or workshops for those leaving the prison system, or make places available through the quota law, such as the Federal University of Bahia.

In March of this year, the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte launched the Alvorada Project, an initiative that promotes initial and continuing training courses for 20 female graduates. They will be trained to assist in administration, basic information technology and entrepreneurship and innovation. Classes will also be face-to-face, “with the aim of promoting social and educational reintegration”.

The Federal University of Paraná is another that has a program aimed at graduates. The Women Entrepreneurs and Leaders Project developed activities aimed at women who have left or are about to complete their time in semi-open prison. The program proposes an entrepreneurship course to those interested in social reintegration. It started in October and should end this June.

The Ceará Penitentiary Administration Secretariat launched an eyebrow design workshop for 20 female graduates, in an 80-hour training course. According to the folder, in addition to the technical part, the course covers content such as professional posture and ethical behavior.

New opportunities

In addition to the courses, entities and companies and social institutions are also offering employment opportunities for graduates. In São Paulo, Instituto Responsa was created with the “objective of inserting, maintaining and improving the process of hiring people who have left the prison system”. In terms of number of visits, about 40% are women.

“We serve these people, we understand their demands, we provide the necessary guidelines and the necessary referrals to the institute’s internal centers. Responsa has some specific centers related to documentation, health, and we also work on harm reduction, training”, says Karine Vieira, who also graduated in 2005.

According to the president of the institute, the difficulties encountered by those leaving the prison system remain great.

“It seems that the penalty is perpetuated. People use the term ‘resocialization’, but we are talking about an audience that has never been socialized. I can say that 95% of the people I see are poorly educated, who never had access to education and culture the way they should have,” says Karine.

Entrepreneur Luciana Branco, from the communication hub Em Branco, has been offering occasional work for women who have graduated from the production of events. According to her, society hardly gives a second chance to people who make mistakes.

“I think opportunities are not everywhere in society, but there must be. They are people who made mistakes, but when they come back, they haven’t found a new chance to start over. And work is a way to dignify the person.”