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Description
Prison Spiritual Care has prepared the Supporting Hands of Mentor project to develop a new service that it could offer to prisoners preparing for release to help them return to normal life. The Mentoring program will be available in 4 prisons in the Czech Republic (Vinařice, Odolov, Olomouc, Jiřice) to more than 120 prisoners, to whom dozens of mentors and professionals will work during the project.
The purpose of the project is to focus on clients in predefined areas in order to enable them to successfully reintegrate into the mainstream environment. The areas we focus on within the program are - housing, employment, family relationships, management, spiritual area and mental area.
Client participation in the program is voluntary and free. We consider the individual approach and personal level of the mentor''s relationship with the client to be important. After the end of the project, we want to use the concept for follow-up activities implemented, for example, through an accredited volunteer program.
Summary of project results
The project was necessary due to the high rate of recidivism among released prisoners and the lack of support for their reintegration into society. Wast majority of released prisoners struggle with their return to everyday life and with practical issues such as housing, employment, and family relationships. The reason is the separation from the standard way of life, social and work ties, and at the same time the lack of appropriate treatment programmes that would provide prisoners with systematic and ongoing penitentiary and post-penitentiary assistance.
We implemented several key activities in the project. We introduced a mentoring programme in four prisons, developed a methodology, and trained mentors. Lead mentors, social workers, and other mentors provided individual support to 138 prisoners. A total of 39 mentors were trained to assist clients with housing, job searches, family relationships, and financial issues. We held 17 mentor training sessions and created a methodology for their work. Providing spiritual and psychological support to prisoners was also crucial. The project included collaboration with Norway, where exchange visits were organized for participants to gain insights from the Norwegian prison system. These activities were essential in reducing recidivism by providing prisoners with targeted assistance and support for reintegration. Mentoring helped enhance their ability to manage practical challenges after release and ensured they had ongoing support during this critical process.
The project significantly improved services for prisoners mentors provided 2 072 hours of direct client support. The project helped prisoners better manage their reintegration into society, reduced the risk of recidivism, and strengthened their ability to handle practical challenges. Another key outcome was the creation of the first "Quiet Ward" in the Czech prison, which was inspired by the Retreat programme from Norway’s Halden Prison. The overall goal of the program is to improve the correctional system. The project contributed to reducing recidivism and enhancing the reintegration of prisoners into society. It established suitable conditions for resocialization through mentoring. In the long term, the project will contribute to the sustainable reintegration of prisoners and reduce the burden on the prison system. The methodologies developed and the trained mentors will serve as a foundation for future similar initiatives.
Summary of bilateral results
Partnership cooperation was a crucial part of the project''s success. The key partner was the Norwegian organization Church of Norway, with which bilateral cooperation was implemented. Cooperation with the partner brought inspiration and methodological support in the first phase in the creation of key project documents. An important aspect of cooperation was the opportunity to consult not only the theoretical structure of the project, but also its implementation part. During two visits to Norway, we were able to compare the project plan with practice in Norwegian prisons and at the same time consult practical issues with individual workers on the Norwegian side. The second meeting then served for validation and feedback within the implementation of project activities, but also for planning the targeting of outputs and their use after the project''s completion within selected Czech prisons.Cooperation with the partner Church of Norway brought several important results. Exchange visits to Norway allowed the Czech team to learn about innovative approaches to working with prisoners, which were the inspiration for the implementation of some elements into the Czech mentoring programme. The sharing of know-how led to a deeper understanding of effective resocialization methods and strengthened the competences of Czech mentors, especially in the area of working with prisoners in the pre-release phase. A concrete outcome of the cooperation is, for example, the "Silent Ward".