Thesis (MTech(Education))--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 1999 / Imprisonment is imposed on increasing numbers of women. Women on trial are also spending time in prisons. It is accepted that crime must be punished but it should and can simultaneously be transformed so that human potential can develop into learning opportunities. Personal interest and empathy with imprisoned women served as motivation for this study; the starting-point being a further conviction that such women have already been punished when starting to serve their sentence and that imprisonment should from then on focus on rehabilitation. The question is what learning opportunities are created for women in prisons, and if insufficient as far as individual needs are concerned, what can be done to facilitate and/or contribute to rehabilitation and the subsequent re-admittance to society upon discharge. Two empirical studies were undertaken in order to obtain the data identified in a situation analysis. A national survey was undertaken in the first place with the aid of the Chief of Training, Department of Correctional Services, in order to determine the training available. The finding provided in Chapter Two of this thesis, shows such opportunities to be rare and unstructured. In comparison with that available to male prisoners, it is indeed quite insufficient and even ineffective. In addition to this general national survey, visits were made to Western Cape prisons where ladies were held. Interviews were conducted with the latter as well as with control officers. Specific needs were identified, which, together with the first survey, enabled the researcher to make meaningful recommendations. Chapter Three of this study was devoted to programme design, a curriculum model was implemented in order 10 provide structure 10 the above data, and aspects of human reality was utilised as criterium. A summary and recommendations for improved learning opportunities for female persons complete the study. Criteria for the design of training programmes are provided and specific mention is made of the role of the National Qualification Framework and accreditation of leaming outcomes in the form of unit standards. It is hoped that the above will make a difference, not only as far as the rehabilitation of women in prisons is concerned, but also with regard to the manager(s) of the learning opportunities as well as the women to enable them to make a positive change to their living environment upon discharge

Text in English / While correctional centres are often associated with men, there is an increasing number of incarcerated women who have rehabilitation needs that are specific to their gender. Historically correctional centres have responded through offering rehabilitative programmes that stereotyped women offenders into socially constructed gender roles. Using a feminist criminology framework, the current study aimed to explore the subjective inner experience and meaning given by women classified as maximum security offenders to the rehabilitation processes in the Johannesburg Correctional Centre. Data was collected from 18 incarcerated women who are and were once classified as maximum offenders. A narrative analysis was used in understanding the data from the interviews. Women’s narratives in the current study reflect unique and common experiences with rehabilitation in the correctional centre. Being a maximum security offender presents a challenge of further perceived discrimination, alienation and isolation amongst women who describe limited involvement in rehabilitation as a result of this identity. Also highlighted in the study are challenges in implementing gender sensitive programming in a penal system infused with power dynamics; a discipline and punish narrative; patriarchy; binary view of gender and ethnocentrism. A continued reinforcement of traditional structures, systems and practices that seek to perpetuate gendered form of existence is also evident in the current study. Therefore, a need for the reformation of the correctional centre context and culture is suggested so as to respond in a manner that is not only gender sensitive, but also inclusive enough in recognising both in theory and in practice, the various locations of inequality in society that influence female criminality. The principle of Ubuntu demonstrated through caring, compassion and hospitability which empowers and edifies the other person through interrelatedness is one of the promising initiatives that can guide correctional centres and society in the implementation of gender sensitive programmes, while paying attention to the socio-cultural dynamics that influence women’s pathways to crime. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar os limites e possibilidades da qualificação profissional para reinserção econômica e social de encarcerados, tomando como referência a Colônia Penal Agroindustrial do Paraná. Apoia-se nos fundamentos teóricos e metodológicos do Materialismo Histórico e Dialético, e utiliza como instrumento de coleta de dados a entrevista individual semiestruturada realizada com dezessete encarcerados participantes de atividades educativas e laborais. Os principais resultados apontam que o perfil socioeconômico da população carcerária, caracterizado pela baixa escolaridade, falta de qualificação profissional, e a ocupação de empregos precários, contribui para o ingresso na criminalidade e, consequentemente, o encarceramento. O segundo aspecto constatado foi o caráter contraditório da prisão em sua finalidade punitiva e ressocializadora, tendo por meta simultânea punir e reinserir o condenado à sociedade. Por fim a qualificação profissional, compreendida amplamente como uma relação social, articulando-se formação geral, profissional e prática, reduz-se a cursos curtos e aligeirados, prescindindo da escolaridade e da integração entre educação geral e profissional, sequer atendendo às demandas de mercado. As evidências apontadas permitem inferir que os programas de qualificação profissional são ineficientes e ineficazes na reinserção econômica e social dos encarcerados. O trabalho na prisão, de caráter produtivo e educativo, cumpre apenas a função produtiva, predatoriamente explorado por empresas privadas, significando para o encarcerado muito mais uma possibilidade de amenizar as condições carcerárias e de remição da pena, do que sua profissionalização. / This research aims to analyze the limits and possibilities of professional qualification for economic and social rehabilitation of prisoners, with reference to the Penal Colony Agroindustrial of Paraná. It builds on theoretical and methodological foundations of the Historical and Dialectical Materialism and uses as data collection tool semi-structured individual interviews conducted with seventeen imprisoned participants of educational and professional activities. The main results show that the socioeconomic profile of the prison population, characterized by low education, lack of professional qualification, and the occupation of precarious jobs, contributes to entry into the crime and hence incarceration. The second aspect was noted the contradictory nature of the arrest at his punitive and ressocializadora purpose, with the simultaneous goal punish and reinsert the condemned to society. Finally the qualification, widely understood as a social relation, articulating general education, professional and practical, reduce the short and streamlined courses, regardless of education and integration between general and vocational education, even taking into account the market demands. The evidence presented allow us to infer that vocational training programs are inefficient and ineffective in the economic and social rehabilitation of prisoners. Prison labor, productive and educational, only fulfills the productive function, predatory operated by private companies, meaning for the imprisoned very much a possibility to ease prison conditions and redemption pen, your professionalism.