DIACEN is proposing a complex solution to preparing for release of prisoners, involving all relevant parties united in adult education activities with the aim of fostering dialogue and expression platform. Our objective is to introduce this solution in 5 European counties with the cooperation of authorities, professionals and end-users, for the direct use in the pre-release period. The aim is to better integrate the inmates in the community and reduce the re-offending rate.DIACEN is based around the idea that dialogue is a powerful method in delivering adult education, and building a community around authentic dialogue can reduce massively the relapse / re-offend rates of prisoners. They need a program for pre-release where all interested parties meet and develop together a solution with the motto: Nothings for me that is made without me. Each element of this equation was tested by the project partners in previous initiatives. But no project up to this date has built in all the following elements into a coherent pre-release program for inmates:- the prison as a learning environment- the education, social work, security staff, prisoner and the local community sit at one table and set a learning pathway for reintegration for each prisoner in the pre-release period- an European framework and method build with the expertise of 5 member states and several networks,- methods of community development and public policy consultation combined to capture the assets of a local community, preparing it to receive the ex-prisoner and acknowledge his / her's capabilities and needs. All of the partners identified in their previous research that there is a lack of focus on adult education and the tendency is to push vocational training in prison. This is especially in a time that adult education can do most good, the per-release period. Prison education and training is provided in overcrowded institutions with an average occupancy rate of 105% across the EU-27. The prison populations are becoming increasingly diverse. In today's context we need prisoners to prepare for release in a multicultural multi-ethnic society and function as contributing parts. For this both prisoners and staff and also the receiving community need to prepare to carry dialogue. There are a number of ways in which the attractiveness, quality and efficiency of prison education will be explored in DIACEN. Education also helps to instil a sense among prisoner learners. Gaining skills and re-imagining their place in society can help people to become active in their local economies and communities, from which ex-prisoners may otherwise find themselves excluded. More generally, there is evidence that education helps in the development of social capital. We will work directly with educators & social workers, prison security staff, prisoners preparing for release. To this we will add the local communities of the project partners. Despite being so diverse, all these have a common need: learning to dialogate in order to make the most of the pre- and post-release period of a prisoner. In all project partner countries in the pre-release period the educational activities increase for a prisoner and focus on key competencies for being functional in a community. For educators and social workers this is a time of intense work with high risk of burn-out. On the other hand, for the security staff this period dose not change the type of interaction even if it would be needed, contributing to the preparation of a prisoner. In the "Analysis of research on prison education" we find out that "The second is the role of the prison officer, which is of crucial importance in motivating and supporting prisoners to access learning opportunities. Furthermore, the prison governor and senior management equally have a vital role to play in promoting prison education and shaping the positive learning environment in which it can develop.P1 CPIP alongside all the involved partners are part of several European co-funded projects researching the condition of the prison staff, their roles in prison education and even setting European standards in professional like prison educator:- in 2011 CLAP 517620-LLP-1-2011-1-RO-GRUNDTVIG-GMP (P1, P4). - in 2012 MyCompass LLP-LdV-TOI-2012-RO-025 (P1 and P3). - in 2012 European Prison Observatory JUST/2011/JPEN/AG/2933 (P5) - in 2013 EISALP 539414-LLP-1-2013-RO-GRUNDTVIG-GMP (P1 and P3)- in 2014 IDECOM 2014-1-RO01-KA204-002936 and ECOPRIS 2014-1-PT01-KA204-001070 (P1, P3)- in 2015 EIGEP 562146-EPP-1-2015-PT-EPPKA-3-PI-FORWARD (P1 and P3).Based on the results of the above projects we will add the element of community developement, unexplored so far, and more use it as a tool to develop pre-release programs by the intended users of these programs. So our most innovative point is bringing the user voice into the equation, promoting the prison as a learning environment and also as a part of the local community.
1) Background of the project: The background of DIACEN is criminal correctional justice, a setting that all partners know very well and work with. The project coordinator, and some of the partners have started cooperating on topic of the pre-release programs in prison, since the Lifelong Learning Program, and still do so within ERASMUS. DIACEN is such an example, corssing through two programatic periods and scafolding on lifelong learning experiences. DIACEN team ran surveys in Romania, Portugal, Poland and Italy, with the help of several specific prisons and the national Administrations. It was a qualitative research, focused on the perspective of the professionals and the personal experiences of those interacting with prison settings. Conclusions included: there was no apparent organized direct involvement of correction staff with inmates geared toward release planning; all the staff interviewed felt inmates were interested in pre-release programs and all staff indicated they felt the local community should be involved in pre-release programs. In this context, we based DIACEN around the idea that dialogue is a powerful method for delivering adult education. Building a community around authentic interaction could reduce massively the relapse / re-offend rates of the prisoners. The inmates need a programme for pre-release where all interested parties meet and develop together a solution with the motto: “Nothings for me that is made without me”. Elements of the pre-release programme for inmates we developed within the context: • The prison as a learning environment; • The education, social work, security staff, prisoner and the local community sit around the table and set a learning pathway for reintegration in the pre-release period; • A European framework and method built with the expertise of 5-member states and several networks; • Methods for community development and public policy consultation which capture the assets of a local community, preparing it to receive the ex-prisoner and acknowledge his / her capabilities and needs. 2) Objectives: Put on public agenda the adult education that takes place in the prison settings Show how experiencing adult education will bring benefits in the preparing-for-release process and reintegration process for all involved parties, Promote adult education as an engine to move prisons into being "learning environments". The purpose and aim behind DIACEN coincides with Mayo (2012) definition of Adult Education: provide opportunities to acquire the capacity and knowledge to navigate effectively and purposefully in the world. And in our case enable prisoners to live more successfully. Develop a pre-release program that takes into account: - the prison as a learning environment - the education, social work, security staff, prisoner and the local community sit at one table and set a learning pathway for reintegration for each prisoner in the pre-release period - an European framework and method build with the expertise of 5 member states and several networks, but adaptable and structured around personal experiences of a prisoner in a specific context - methods of community development and public policy consultation combined to capture the assets of a local community, preparing it to receive the ex-prisoner and acknowledge his / her's capabilities and needs. 3) The partnership: We are 5 partners, 4 of us representing 4 EU member states and 1 being an European NGO with international capacity. We are all supported by our national prison systems in our daily activities and also particualrly for DIACEN project. Our European level NGO has access through its members to a lot of prison systems both in Europe and outside. All our partners, through the project implementation, have piloted within the prison context, co-produced materials with the prison staff and inmates. 4) Activities & Results: A platform for educators and any prison professional A training for security prison staff (supported by the educators / social workers to be as mediators) to work together with the prisoners using dialogic methods, games, role-play and a guiding handbook - piloted in 2 staff trainings, in 2 prisons and in 1 international training of a supporting partner A working method for the prisoner to develop together with the prison staff a flexible resources guide to help the prisoner in the first part after the release - applied in 4 countries and resulting 4 national language region speciffic guides for after release. A working system for the prison staff to cooperate with the local community, using community engagement methods in finding out what are the best ways to assist the prisoner upon release and what is available in the immediate community as resources and support system for the ex-prisoner - put together under the form of a guide and piloted at 5 multiplier events with its direct inteded users.