Economic, social and cultural rights

Right for education
Before entering the penitentiary system, inmates have faced exclusion in many aspects of life, education being one of them. In the context of confinement, education should be the main dimension through which penitentiary units could become areas for real socialization, change, emancipation and personal development. Emphasis should be put in some aspects such as quality, depth and continuity of these educational processes, leading to self-improvement and job training in order to avoid recidivism, and foster social inclusion.

 

Main issues

- Space and infrastructure
Reduced areas, deteriorated classrooms, shortage of study material, libraries, lightning, and air ventilation, among others.

- Accessibility
Logistics, administrative and bureaucratic difficulties. Overlapping schedules between job and study that affect the student’s accessibility to classrooms.

- Educational service
Lack of offer as regards education, culture, recreation, and professional training, in order to guarantee access to all inmates.

- Equipment 
Lack of implementation of Information and Communication Technologies in the educational process and library management.

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Employment

Survey
The small number of inmates engaged in paid activities, as well as salary restrictions, and how limited those employment training activities are for life after release, were the main deficiencies in the enforcement of labor rights within the SPF.
Since 2014, paid jobs seem to be at a stalemate; however, it could not be quantified due to the lack of information provided by the SPF.