Description
The goal is to help prisoners get ready for life once they are released from custody by providing them with comprehensive educational and rehabilitation support over the period of 12 months while still in prison, and to train the staff working in prison libraries in scope of readership education as a part of rehabilitation work. Under the project, prisoner readership research will be carried out, unique in the country, such as has not been undertaken to date by any NGO. At the end of the project, a conference for prison services will be organized to disseminate project findings, and model examples of work with prisoners will be presented by our Norwegian partner. The project will be executed in three penitentiary facilities in Mazowieckie voivodeship: remand prisons of Warszawa - Białołęka and Warszawa – Grochów, and Siedlce prison. It is targeted at prisoners: 38 women and 70 men, as well as prison librarians from all over the country.
Summary of project results
"On average, Poland records around 81,000 inmates quarterly; approximately 80% reoffend and return to prison within 3 years of release. Inmates are a group subject to stigmatisation and multiple exclusion, affecting them as well as their next of kin. The project purpose was to provide inmates with educational and resocialising support through readership as a pretext to change self-perception, self-assessment of personal capacity and potential, and the way of life upon leaving prison. The project allowed 128 male and female inmates to attend readership and art classes and improve their knowledge of joining the society upon release from a penitentiary unit. Activities held: performative reading workshops (162 h) enabling self-definition; creative workshops (photography and art, including calligraphy) offering self-effectiveness coupled with hard work; themed meetings on various aspects of human life in the social context (work, living space, social aid, legal consultations). Inmates were made part of a project (volunteer work enabling the operation of the Praga Neighbourhood Library, book collecting) allowing them to work outside prison - project-promoting city campaigns, exhibition of works created in art classes. Inmates attended a number of cultural events of national (National Readings) and local (Open Ząbkowska Street) reach. Prison library staff (27 persons) were trained in readership education as a resocialising tool; a research report on readership among inmates was drafted for debate during the project summary conference. Two hundred and fifty thousand books were collected and donated to prison libraries. Project participants included 128 female and male inmates of 3 penitentiary units: Warsaw-Białołęka and Warsaw-Grochów remand prisons, and a prison in Siedlce. Partnership with the Regional Penitentiary Services Inspectorate allowed streamlined project implementation at all units. The LAS Foundation was active in collecting books for inmates."
Summary of bilateral results