Systematization of a Strategy of Informal Education Implemented with Inmates of a Medium Security Penitentiary Establishment in Barranquilla, Colombia

Abstract

This article talks about a process of intervention in a community of people deprived of their liberty (PDL) in a medium security penitentiary establishment in Barranquilla (Establecimiento Penitenciario de Mediana Seguridad y Carcelario de Barranquilla – EPMSCBA-ERE). The target population did not have access to reduction of sentence. A systematization of the experience was elaborated by an interdisciplinary team who defined the axes of the systematization, reconstructed the experience, critically reflected about the process and identified aspects that allowed for the construction and implementation of an informal educational project. Data was collected through a survey, focus groups, playful workshops, work meetings and a review of all the documentary support of the information recorded about the experience. The systematization permitted all the stakeholders to recognize their share of the responsibility and identify new avenues to arrive at the readaptation of the PPL/PDL. It was concluded that it is necessary to comprehend the importance of education as a resocializing tool for PPL/PDL, and the role of the Social Worker and other related professionals in this process. The process also achieved visibility for the participants and that they participated actively and viewed themselves as “subjects with rights”.