“The family most often motivates the convict’s desire to return to society”

Just 10 years ago it was practically impossible for NGOs in Belarus to initiate educational activities in correctional facilities. The situation is gradually changing and Nina Kekuh, head of Homel regional public association "Social Projects", tells us about it.

DVV: Why and when did you start working on the topic of prison education?
 
Nina: We started working on this topic 10 years ago. I am a member of the public monitoring commission at the Gomel regional executive committee, whose functions include assisting correctional institutions in the process of re-socialization of convicts.

Visiting the institutions and having an opportunity to talk to both staff and convicts about the problems and needs, the idea of the first project "Adult education for re-socialization and professionalization in correctional institutions" was born, which was implemented with the support of DVV International in Belarus.

It was this project that became the first link in the chain of subsequent ideas and their implementation. Besides, the idea of lifelong learning has always been close to our organization, and almost all our work and project activities are aimed at non-formal and additional education of different categories of adults.
 
DVV: How many people are in your team?
 
Nina: Our team is small, because a public organization usually cannot afford to have a large staff. So everyone has different functions. We try to involve experts if necessary.
 
DVV: Is this the biggest challenge we have had to deal with at the moment?
 
Nina: In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges is that our society is not always tolerant of the problems of people returning from prison and not ready to accept them. The fact is that the efforts made by us and other organizations to re-socialize convicts (educational courses, acquisition of professional skills, personal growth programs, conflict-free behavior) will have zero effect if society does not accept these people.

The first group of female convicts serving their sentence, who attended the course "School of happy family" (2019)
Therefore, it is necessary to conduct more information work with the people, including the media, in order to develop more initiatives, charity projects for public care of the freed. This will facilitate there return to society. 
 
DVV: The biggest achievement of your team?
 
Nina: Just ten years ago it was almost impossible to initiate any activity within the prison walls. The system was closed to community organizations. But gradually, step by step, by initiating programs in correctional institutions and achieving certain positive results, we began to be treated with great trust. Today I can say that we have contributed and continue to contribute to the opening of the doors for NGOs.

DVV: How important is the work with convicts and freedmen is in our society and why in your opininon?
 
Nina: The problem of re-socialization and social adaptation of a convict is a serious social problem and directly concerns the safety of you and me. The convicted person after serving his or her sentence due to a number of reasons is not always able to follow the laws of the society, often commits a new crime and goes back to jail.

With every next relapse, there is less chance and less hope of a return to normal life. Therefore, only the consolidation of state and public efforts and a comprehensive approach to the process of re-socialization of citizens from places of detention can solve such problems as a successful return to society and ensuring public security in the state. 
 
DVV: Maybe you could highlight some important aspects of this topic, which in your opinion, already exists in Belarus, and what can and should be further worked on?
 
Nina: All aspects are important. It is very difficult to build a hierarchy of more or less important aspects. But, based on the experience of our last project on responsible parenthood, I can say about the need to work with the family of a convict.
As the family plays the most important role in the process of successful re-socialization of former convicts. It is the family that most often motivates the convict's desire to return to the society. If the family does not perform this function, the activity of other institutions may be in vain.

Read more (russian).

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