THE TV Brazil Displays, this Monday (22) at 23h, new episode of the program Paths of the report With the theme “Egresses of the Penal System seek new chance”. The attraction will show the prejudices and challenges faced by those looking for a new opportunity in society. 
According to the Criminal Execution Law, it is the State’s responsibility to ensure access to education and work for people who meet penalty in Brazilian prisons. Throughout the country, about 25% of inmates work, but in some regions this rate is much lower, as is the case of Rio de Janeiro, where only 3% have the opportunity to practice a profession.
The director of prison policies of the National Secretariat of Criminal Policies (Senappen), Sandro Barradas, explains that compliance with the law often does not occur due to the structure of the units. “The system, when we talk about the history of the prison system, was made to arrest, not to resocialize and transform. However, it has been changing over the last 20 years,” he says.
THE Paths of the report It shows that, despite the difficulties, there are training projects focused on both those who are trapped and those who have returned to society. Amanda Tamires Freitas, who is in a closed sentence at the Talavera Bruce penitentiary in Rio de Janeiro, learned the seamstress office in a workshop within the prison unit.
“Work helps me to be a better person, support my children outside. It’s a therapy. When I’m sewing there, I forget I’m stuck,” he shares. Offering education to people who meet a penalty is still among the main challenges.
In February this year, as a way to correct these distortions, the Pena Justa plan was launched. For José Rotondano, Judge of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), all units in the country must have a school.
“There are many people within the Brazilian prison system who can’t read or write. So all this is within the plan: vocational courses, the redemption of the penalty for reading and work, a fair salary, ”he says.
Opportunities
From a social project developed in the Rio de Janeiro Penitentiary where he was serving time, Sagat B became interested in reading, something that transformed his trajectory.
“It is interesting to say that today, 46, I am a writer, because I read my first real book 30 to 31, within a prison. This demonstrates the power that literature has to transform,” he says.
After leaving jail, Sagat B became a barber, rapper and writer, and is one of the influential voices in the struggle for the resocialization of former detainees.
The non -governmental organization (NGO) Afroreggae is another example of initiative to help prison graduates find job opportunities. It was through the institution that Diego Mister met the audiovisual market and began operating in films and television series.
“Thank God, I can give another experience to my children and my family, because I don’t want them to go through what I have been through,” he says.
