“I am no longer who I was, I don’t know who I was anymore, because life always changes with each new spring". The excerpt from the poem: "The change", authored by Orion Milhomem, server of the Court of Justice of the State of Tocantins (TJTO), well represents the feeling that is expected to awaken in the reeducation of the Female Penal Unit of the city of Palmas, from the Literary Minds Project: from the magic of books to the art of writing, launched on Wednesday (September 18th), by the National Council of Justice (CNJ).
Tocantins is one of the five Brazilian States chosen by the CNJ to receive the pilot project, aligned with the guidelines of the Resolution n. 391/2021 of the CNJ, which encourages the remission of sentence through reading as an educational social practice in the prison system.
In the State, initially, the initiative will be developed at the Penal Unit for Women of the city of Palmas, which currently has 44 re-educates, but it is expected that it will extend to other criminal institutions. The project provides for the holding of reading and writing workshops, as well as the qualification of literary collections and the structuring of libraries in these spaces. The methodology includes biweekly or monthly meetings over six months, promoting continuity and deepening of reading practices.
The initiative is part of the national strategy to universalize access to books and reading in prisons, led by the Making Justice program, coordinated by the CNJ in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
During the launch of the project, the deputy coordinator of the Axis 3 of the Making Justice Program, Francine Machado, said that the idea is that access to books and education can be worked on.
"I usually say that reading, education, is something emancipatory, allows us to break barriers, cross worlds that we often would not achieve in reality and this will allow us access to various other things."
Francine recalls that, also, it is being worked with all partners the possibility of donation of some works so that this process can be carried out and so that, in addition, the remission of sentence for all participants in the project can be guaranteed.
According to the Judge of the Court of Criminal Executions of the city of Palmas, Allan Martins Ferreira, the project is important and whatever is possible to consolidate the project will be done. "We know that the illiteracy rate in the State is still high. And in the CPP (Provisional Prison House of the city of Palmas), where there are 800 prisoners, we have something around 40 completely illiterate people", he stressed, citing actions that the Judiciary of the State of Tocantins has done to reduce this problem, as the acquisition of Educational Tables with resources of pecuniary fines.
The Executive Secretary of Citizenship and Justice, Hélio Marques, thanked the CNJ for the differentiated look to the Prison System of the State of Tocantins and wished good luck to the re-educates who will participate in the project. "That you take it as an opportunity of life, because knowledge actually releases."
Project
When presenting the project on Literary Minds, the technical assistant of the Axis 3 of the Making Justice Program, Mariana Nicolau, cited that in the National Census developed by the CNJ in the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 and published last year, indicated that 40% of the prisons in the country do not have a library and only 26% of the prisons have some project involving reading practice.
It was from this data, the CNJ developed a national plan to promote reading. And within that plan, the project was thought. "Understanding reading as a right and a universal right, we understand that this right needs to be universalized, that it needs to meet everyone and must reach all people," she emphasized.
"We understand that 40% of the prisons in Brazil do not have any book, we understand that a national campaign to collect books is a kick-start and then, thanks to the support of the Company of Letters, we got a donation of our collection to start the project", said Mariana, informing that books were purchased for 200 prison units and, from other dialogues with other publishers, they are able to encourage the donation of books.
"In addition, a very important aspect is training and we are thinking about some initiatives that have already started, with training of reading mediators," she commented, explaining that reading mediators are people who will lead the reading wheels. "Our idea is that people deprived of liberty can also be reading mediators and can facilitate reading for others."
Donation of books
In addition to present some of his poems at the event, on the occasion, the server Orion Milhomem made the donation of the books: "In rhythm of love and poetry" and "In the pace of the heart", by him, to the library of the Female Penal Unit.
The poet Juarez Alencar Pereira, a chord player and server of the Education Department of the State of Tocantins, also recited a string poem during the event.
Presences
Also attended the event the Assistant Judge of the General Internal Affairs of Justice (CGJUS), Arióstenis Guimarães Vieira; the coordinator of the Citizenship of the CGJUS, Judge Odete Almeida; the Public Defender Napociani Pereira Póvoa; the Director of the Female Penal Unit, Rosilda Carvalho; the Manager of social reintegration, work and income to the prisoner and egress, Dilson Júnior; and servers of the Department of Monitoring and Supervision of the Prison System and the Execution System of Socio-educational Measures in the State of Tocantins.
