The Dialogue Center – Taking Further Prisoners’ Education Projects in Using Dialogue as Preparing for Release Erasmus Project

Project Title

The Dialogue Center – Taking Further Prisoners’ Education Projects in Using Dialogue as Preparing for Release

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Home and justice affairs (human rights & rule of law); Access for disadvantaged

Project Summary

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.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 229914,34 Eur

Project Coordinator

CENTRUL PENTRU PROMOVAREA INVATARII PERMANENTE TIMISOARA ASOCIATIA & Country: RO

Project Partners

• QUALIFY JUST – IT SOLUTIONS AND CONSULTING LDA
• STOWARZYSZENIE ARID
• STICHTING FOUNDATION ICPA OFFICE IN EUROPE
• ANTIGONE ONLUS