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Description
Czech Republic has the 4th highest imprisonment rate from the EU countries (197 per 100.000 inhabitants). Czech prisons are overcrowded, which makes individual work with prisoners very difficult. The rate of recidivism is high: 7 out of 10 people return back to prison during their lifetime. There is a lot of prejudice towards people with criminal past in the society and they have to overcome many barriers during their integration after release from prison. There is also lack of support for people after release. We want to empower people with lived experience from prison and include them in policy making and system change in criminal justice. Their experience is extremely valuable but at the moment it is being completely neglected. We will set up a training and empowerment program for a group of people with lived experience to prepare them for advocacy work. After finishing the program, they will actively participate in advocacy activities, working on system change and policy development in criminal justice. We will share all the outcomes and experience with other stakeholders, both NGOs and state institutions, motivating them to include the perspective of people with lived experience in their work and see them as experts and partners. We will rely on the experience of our Norwegian partner, Wayback. Wayback is an organisation built from bottom up by people with lived experience.
Summary of project results
The criminal justice system needs change. However, in policy making, the criminal past is not perceived as a potential source of effective solutions based on the real needs of those people with criminal past. People with a criminal record have a number of obstacles in their reintegration into society. The Czech Republic has the 4th highest rate of incarceration among EU countries. This leads to prison overcrowding (a third of prisons are overcrowded at 110 % or more) and makes individual work with convicts impossible. Lifetime recurrence is 70 %.
Negative social impacts: increase in social exclusion of persons with a criminal history and their families, decrease in the feeling of safety and social cohesion. Economic impacts: imprisoning 1 person / 1 day costs over 1200 CZK.
Main impact of project is that it helped to shift the perception of lived experience of imprisonment as a relevant source of expertise among a number of experts from academic sphere, Czech Prison Service and other organizations that already use lived experience in their work with clients (especially addictology NGOs), as well as among donors (Porticus Foundation, Social Fund of Capital City of Prague). It succeeded in alleviating their concerns and highlighting the usefulness of involving people with LE in systemic changes.
Project made a major difference for graduates of training programme: it strengthened their self-confidence, motivated them to actively use their LE. It supported their competence and ability to set and guard their boundaries. This group benefited the most through the opportunity for education and further development, involvement in advocacy and awareness-raising activities. Their mutual support and sharing also proved to be essential.
Important perspective of people with LE has been included in a number of documents and policies, and topic of using LE in criminal justice and prisons has been opened up.
Project has contributed to promotion of amendment to Social Services Act - people with criminal records will be allowed to work in social services. Project has shown the potential of presenting LE in form of a ''living library'', including application within education and primary prevention (training package for civic education teachers).
The main outputs of project are Portfolio and a Toolkit of a training programme. Final workshop with international participation had a major impact. Project also laid foundations for stable team of people with LE in RC.
Contribution of Norwegian partner Wayback was crucial and consisted in transfer of know-how on sensitive use of LE. Partnership with AOOV has supported impact and dissemination of outputs both among member organisations and towards other stakeholders.
Summary of bilateral results
The Norwegian organisation Wayback was founded and is almost exclusively formed by people with criminal pasts, and in addition to peer mentoring, it is also involved in advocating for systemic change and spreading awareness. Their unique expertise was crucial in the implementation of the project. Wayback Director Johan Lothe was directly involved in leading workshops for RUBIKON Centre (RC) staff and the professional public, as well as developing and implementing educational program for people with criminal pasts to engage in advocacy and awareness activities. He was involved in the evaluation of the progress of the program graduates and in the final international seminar "What does involvement of people with lived experience bring?". Thanks to the project and bilateral cooperation, a team of people with lived experience has been created at the RC, which is involved in advocacy/outreach activities The cooperation between the RC and Wayback on the topic of lived experience, which is important and close to both organisations, has strengthened and deepened the relationship between the two organisations. Participation in the project has strengthened the competences and capacities of the staff of both organisations. Wayback and RC are now both promoters of the theme of lived experience within the European RESCALED network, which aims to reform the prison system towards small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated detention houses. Wayback and RC are long-term partners in a number of projects and activities since 2020, eg. "Young Ex-Offenders Support (YES)" (Erasmus+ program), "With a Mentor through Rubicon: Implementation of the Mentoring Programme" (Norway Grants) and "Our Voice Matters”. Since 2022, both organisations are part of the aforementioned European RESCALED network. Bilateral cooperation will continue in 2 projects: “Detention Houses: A Way to Improve the Human Rights of Imprisoned Persons” and “Mentoring: Sharing Experiences Between Practitioners.”