A social campaign to support education in penitentiaries was launched in Chisinau. Its goal is to ensure the right to education by creating more favorable conditions of access to studies for detainees, IPN reports.
Anatolie Munteanu, secretary general of state at the Ministry of Justice, said the right to education is a basic one. “During the past few years, we received many requests from detainees who asked to enable them to study. The imprisonment system ensures the right to education especially at the initial formation stage. The minor detainees benefit from access to studies at the mandatory secondary education stage,” he stated, noting the people continue to stigmatize the people who served time in jail, but any person that completed a sentence should be able to integrate into society and work.
Robert Terzlow, senior consultant at Pompidou Group, said the state is responsible for the fate of detainees when these are in jail and also for their future. Education, as health, should be organized by the principle of equivalence. This principle implies that the studies from which those from jail benefit should be of the same quality as the studies of those from the community. It is also necessary for the studies from which prisoners benefit to be based on the principle of integration as this way the continuity of studies is ensured when the person enters and leaves a jail. Furthermore, the prisoners should benefit from independent and impartial teachers.
Ina Tcaci, of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, noted that by education any prisoner has bigger chances of integrating into society. International reports show that in the countries where the persons in jail benefitted from occupational education programs, the chances for these not to recidivate are bigger. In Moldova, the criminal recidivism rate exceeds 70% and this means that the taken measures are not sufficient.
Olga Bulmaga, of the Council for Prevention and Combating of Discrimination, stated that a study carried out by the People’s Ombudsman reveals the minors in jails are not taught sufficient classes and they do not have access to the necessary aids. The public should be sensitized as education increases the employment chance of prisoners and ensures their financial independence.
Adela Scutaru-Guțu, director of the German Adult Education Association, said education makes the change in the people’s life regardless of the context in which these are, while the prisoners have the right to development.
The campaign “Better Education in Penitentiaries” is conducted by the association “Inițiativa Pozitivă” (“Positive Initiative”). Among its objectives are to promote education as an efficient instrument for reintegrating prisoners and to create more favorable conditions for access to education in jails and equal employment chances.
