The Art. 20th anniversary of the national Constitution establishes that the purpose of custodial sentences is the social rehabilitation of the sentenced person. However, it is demonstrated that this principle has not been more than a cute expression of desires.
In the search of a real fulfillment of this norm of constitutional rank, and in the pursuit of greater “humanization” of the prisons of our country, was created the Association Paths of Freedom, with the aim to dignify people deprived of their liberty in various prisons.
In this regard, the director of the association, dr. Alda Cardozo, explained that the new organization is the result of the dream of many people, professionals and friends committed to the prison system and persons deprived of their liberty.
He added that dealing with the permanent need of the prisoners of a legal assistance of his cause in the proceedings, but what is more important is to change the mentality of the person who is in prison. “We want to restore your inner life. The spiritual aid is a very important tool that we will use heavily, which is the mainstay of many of the people who are in prison,” he said.
He commented that they also want to address the part psycho-social, for which they will have the support of experts, for example, in neuro-linguistic programming and then follow with education and training, through a program called “Surgery of the mind”, so to transform, rehabilitate and reintegrate the convicted person into society.
For his part, dr. Jose Altamirano, deputy director of the association, and a former minister of the Supreme Court of Justice, stated that intended, with the instruments available, to work with people who have lost their freedom and have the “social stigma”, but also wants to work with the society which discriminates against them.
“We have a claim almost quixotic, but we’re going to try, and in that attempt, we want the support of many small things, because these are the ones that succeed in the large”, he stressed.
In that sense, he added that does not believe in the “extraordinary man”, but in the ordinary is able to do what he does in an extraordinary way. “I think we have to get people to input their heart small things, for that we go back to this more human,” he said.
Four main axes
The association bases its actions on four main areas: psychosocial Support, education, job training, and case tracking process.
In terms of the psycho-social assistance, considered to contextualize the internal is essential to design the appropriate treatment start, before entering the various programs provided: educational, sports, work, addictions treatment, violence reduction, mentoring, psychological and psychiatric, etc, to make them a useful person to himself and to the society.
It further contends that psychologists and assistants social have a key role to play in prisons, as the situation of confinement is traumatic and each person should be assessed and assisted as needed.
Neuro-linguistic programming
In respect of neuro-linguistic programming, the association believes that it is the technique applied so that people can organize their ideas and actions to achieve results; that is to say, it refers to their mental patterns and the goals that arise.
Neuro refers to the neurology of the people, reflecting the fundamental idea that all behavior stems from your neurological processes of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and emotion. Linguistic relates to how the person uses language to order your thoughts, how it influences your behavior and to communicate with others.
Education
The association considers that education is one of the pathways best suited to achieve the social reintegration, for both target points to the universality of formal education. He says that the training in technical careers is the way to insert them into the world of work and for the generation of tools that enable the acquisition of new skills leading to healthy habits leading to an improvement in the quality of life. Points, in addition, to modify the conduct by the acquisition of values that will ensure a life of dignity to his exit from the penitentiary.
“Surgery of the mind”
It consists of the formation of reading circles of self-help books, whose main objective is to inhibit the mental limitations, awakening in them a change of attitude and of critical awareness and reflective to the “I can”, acknowledging their weaknesses and strengths; skills and attitudes that will enable them to develop consciously with their personal value and interpersonal.
One-stop workforce
According to the association, the Code of Penal Execution (Law No. 5162/15), gives a lot of value to the reintegration programmes, and available in the Art. 120 that “inmates sentenced to a custodial sentence greater than three years, who are in the treatment period, in an establishment closed regular or semi-open, that have a conduct qualified as very good, may be benefited with the scheme of redemption, ordinary, by which it will subtract a day to the sentence for every three days of work or study”, so that today the Inmates are interested and seek its integration into the learning programs.
He adds that the action culminates with the incorporation of an employment plan with support from private sector companies. He says that at this point it will work for the tax exemption.
Court cases
The fledgling organization also considers that the legal aid, viewed as a fundamental human right, offers personalized assistance, support and monitoring the causes and communication, timely, and accurate state of the process. This is responsible for the protection of the procedural rights and effective enforcement of the criminal laws and the international conventions ratified by our country.
He points out that the idea is to gain “brigades legal”, assessing in a comprehensive manner the situation of the processes through assistance to legal aid offices and active participation in the various courts. Ends the task with the report presented to each inmate interviewed.
Legal clinics
Create, also, “legal clinics”, which bucarán be places of instruction and training in the legal matter leading to ways people knowledgeable of the processes to be followed until the conclusion of their cause, and thus spare them distress, anxiety and depression by the lack of knowledge and of the visit of his defender.
The association also aims to act on behalf of persons deprived of their liberty, before the legislative bodies for the cases of legal requests that support the collective.
Paradigm shift
On the other hand, the association argues that the graduates of the prisons suffer discrimination as a result of the “social stigmatization”, so it believes that it must devise strategies to strive for a change of paradigm, through campaigns at the national level to make the problem visible prison, and the favourable consequences of the implementation of rehabilitation programmes for the social reintegration, so as to obtain a social vision modified.
It expresses that in order to achieve this, proclaims the need to recognize the people deprived of their freedom as beings with rights dissatisfied. “Visibilizamos the work carried out and their results, we achieve the interest of agencies of instances of decision, such as, for example, Committees of the Congress (drug Trafficking, Human Rights, Encryption),” he added.
Important advances
In terms of the progress made to 30 last August, the association informs that in the framework of the cooperation agreement signed with the Cooperative in the South, have begun to work with women who are deprived of their liberty at the Center of Social Rehabilitation of the city of Encarnación.
He says that the project is located in the Shaft No. 2, and in response to the “surprising results”, the cooperative decided to extend their support and so enter at the education center 12 adolescent offenders of the Law, who participate in the programs.
Also, in the framework of the agreement with the Pastoral Social of Prison, it was decided to start a pilot plan in the D wing, with 20 inmates, and then continue to move forward. An agreement was also signed with the National System of Judicial Facilitators, dependent of the Supreme Court of Justice.
The idea is to work with the indigenous community of the prisons of Concepcion and Pedro Juan Caballero, work is already in progress. He says that at Conception are in prison, 26 indigenous (seven illiterate) and PJC 66 indigenous (17 illiterate). For this serious situation, the association has contacted the Education Directorate of the Governorate of the Amambay to deal with alfabetizarlos.
On the other hand, the organization informs that in the prison of Incarnation is running the axis No. 2 “Surgery of the mind”, with a group of 34 women consolidated in the change of thought and attitude. In addition, in this same context, were admitted in the Educational Center 12 adolescents.
First to benefit from
The accompaniment of court cases has already produced the first benefited, and it is the case of Juan Carlos Gómez García, with five months in prison without any process, and that he was freed by the intervention of a lawyer member of the Association Paths of Freedom and the filing of a habeas corpus repairer. The judge Oscar Delgado intervened in the cause.