Inmates in four federal prisons holding some of Brazil's most notorious criminals will be able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced.
Prisoners will have up to four weeks to read each book and write an essay which must "make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins and legible joined-up writing," said the notice published on Monday in the official gazette.
A special panel will decide which inmates are eligible to participate in the program dubbed "Redemption through Reading."
"A person can leave prison more enlightened and with a enlarged vision of the world," said Sao Paulo lawyer Andre Kehdi, who heads a book donation project for prisons.
"Without doubt they will leave a better person," he said.
"make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins and legible joined-up writing,"
ReplyDeleteSo, jail really is much tougher than college.
I had a similar thought. This would be an excellent model for cheap online credits....
DeleteThey seem to know down in Brasilia that "penitentiary" derives from "penitent" and that the prisons are there to reform criminals. America thinks they some sort of limbo, where the underclass can be no longer be seen or heard from. France before the revolution was like that.
ReplyDelete"America thinks they some sort of limbo...."
DeleteShould be an ARE between "they" and "some."
Dammit.
If they read "The Poor Man's James Bond" or "Get Tough" (a book so nasty, my Mom wouldn't allow it in our house, when one of my brothers brought it home), would those count?
ReplyDeleteThe excerpt above says that there's an approved list. So, no "Magic Treehouse: Pancakes in Prison" or " Debbie Does Deconstructionists".. c
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ReplyDeleteYears ago I met a very nice guy at a party. He told me he was a lawyer and, when I asked where had he studied he told me he had gotten his degree by a Distance Education U -- which, as a matter of fact, is highly prestigious in his country.
ReplyDeleteHe used to be a terrorist (yikes!). Not a very good one, he had been nabbed while robbing a bank. He had taken advantage of a program that shortened his pretty much life sentence two years for each year of higher ed studies (five years in the can, ten redeemed for studies, parole when 50% of 30 years sentence completed).
A tale of fall and redemption -- legal and culturally impossible in the States
Rote Armee Fraktion? Japanese Red Army? The PLO? IRA? Basque Separatists? Revolutionaere Zellen (Revolutionary Cells)? Sendario Luminoso (Shining Path)? One of those Italian groups from the "Years of Lead"? The "Breuders Schweigen" (Silent Brotherhood)? Alpha 66?
DeleteOAS
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