EDUCATION, VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND WORK PROMISING PRACTICE: Prison-university partnerships The increase in prison-university partnerships around the world has been hailed as an exciting developing trend in prisoner rehabilitation.79 Such partnerships can be particularly useful in breaking down barriers to higher education for women in prison. The UNODC, in partnership with the University of Panama, has supported the establishment of the first university programme at the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (CEFERE), offering training in three different career paths.80 The project enables women prisoners to obtain degrees for the first time. According to a news article There are many types of potential partnership published online by the government of approaches between prisons and universities Panama in February 2018, there were 43 and these can be adapted to meet different regular students and 45 first-time students needs and suit local contexts. They include, participating in the programme at CEFERE but are not limited to, student placements to in 2018, and 14 women graduated in mentor prisoners, academic reading groups December 2016.81 in prisons, learning partnerships between prisoners and students, e-learning courses Walls to Bridges (W2B)82 is an innovative that allow prisoners to gain university educational programme that brings together credits, and programmes that allow prisoners imprisoned and non-imprisoned male and to attend university on day release. female students to study university-level courses in jails and prisons across Canada. The African Prisons Project offers a By providing access to education for formalised sponsorship programme enabling prisoners and through collaborative scholarly prisoners and prison staff to study law with inquiry with university-based students, W2B the University of London’s international classes offer opportunities to understand programme. At the end of 2018 there were the complexities of criminalisation and at least 50 people in prison in Uganda punishment through lived experiences and Kenya studying for law degrees by and intersectional analyses. An important correspondence and over 150 more had principle of all W2B courses is that students been trained as auxiliary paralegals. from outside the correctional system are The programme is also supported by local not ‘mentoring’, ‘helping’ or ‘working with’ university lecturers and law students imprisoned students. All participants in in order to help students contextualise the class are peers, learning the content their knowledge. together through innovative, experiential and dialogical processes. Self-reflexivity is a key component of W2B classes. All students who successfully complete the course receive university or college credit. Penal Reform International and Thailand Institute of Justice | Guide to the rehabilitation and social reintegration of women prisoners | 31

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