Brazilian prisoners will be able to shave 48 days off their sentence each year by reading. In a move to promote literacy among inmates, the Brazilian government has announced that prisoners will be able to shorten their sentence by reading.
The South American country has launched a program entitled ‘Redemption Through Reading’ in its four crowded federal prisons that allows prisoners to cut 48 days off their sentence each year by reading up to twelve books.
Eligible inmates to take part in the program will be chosen by a special panel and then given a chance to select from works of literature, philosophy, science, or the classics.
According to Brazilian officials, each inmate then will have four weeks to finish the book and then write an essay that must “make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins and legible joined-up writing.”
Organizers believe such programs enable inmates to “leave prison more enlightened and with an enlarged vision of the world.”
As a 2012 Human Rights Watch report indicates that detention centers in Brazil “are severely overcrowded, lengthy pre-trial detention is the norm…Forced labor persists in some states despite federal efforts to eradicate it.”
CD
Very interesting and ambitious project. Yes, I do believe, that through education, the "heart and mind" of a certain number of "inmates" could have a very positive outcome to their future live one's released from prison. Congratulation and well done to those who made it possible to "drive" such a great project!