The focus of this diploma thesis is to describe the position of ex-prisoners on the labour market and how their operations on that market influence the society. In this paper, I will be looking into the social and state budget costs that these people cause, and why we can consider them as another vulnerable group on the labour market. The factors that lower their chances to succeed are lower productivity, level of education, and also statistical discrimination by employers that leads to demanding expectations on possessing a clean record. I will also focus my attention to the solutions that are currently in place in the Czech Republic, as success on the labour market is an important element to lowering the relapse rate. In the Czech Republic, the relapse rate is between 60 to 65 percent, which is lot higher than in other countries that have been trying to solve this problem for a longer period of time. This thesis confirms the hypothesis that this problem in the Czech Republic is not being treated on the same level as in other countries, and therefore we could learn and apply other solutions from abroad. Half-way houses have proven to be an effective solution and it would be good to put them into practice in Czech Republic as well.

This research aimed to understand how former prisoners make sense of their participation in carceral employment programs in terms of their reintegration into the labour market upon release. Following a social constructivist approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen men living in Ottawa, Canada, who had participated in employment programs while incarcerated in Canadian federal prisons. Content analysis of the transcribed interviews showed that participation in work programs was perceived as beneficial for reintegration into the labour market if the individual received a provincially-recognized trade certificate, could count hours worked in prison towards an apprenticeship, or if engaged in a field of work that matched their aspirations in terms of future employment plans. Most participants noted additional advantages for engaging in work activities in prison, such as the use of work as a strategy to cope with feelings of idleness and estrangement from society while incarcerated. Participants who did not perceive participation as helpful mentioned that returning to the labour market was not desirable or was made difficult by plans to retire, to receive a government pension due to disabilities, mental health conditions experienced during and after prison, the stigma for being a former prisoner as overriding any potential benefit from the program, and parole conditions limiting or preventing the search for jobs in the community. Future studies investigating reintegration into the labour market upon release and seeking to understand how former prisoners make sense of their participation in carceral employment programs could focus on individuals who have completed their sentences and are not subjected to parole conditions. This would allow an investigation of the perceptions and experiences of those who are not impeded in seeking employment and have been actively searching for or engaging with employment upon release.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:20:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Emerson Cristofoli.pdf: 1861929 bytes, checksum: 85b0281f6f693d4f69591eeb2670d3b7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-05 / The present dissertation investigates the perceptions of young former-prisoners about work, from their speech on structural conditions study that affect them, on aspects and implications of social vulnerability and also the Pro-Egresso Program from Toledo. Its main analysis focuses on the perceptions of work in the tracjetories of life of a young former-prisoners that attended the Pro-Egresso Program of Toledo. Therefore, we carried out an in depth research at the Pro-Egresso Program of Toledo - PR and an analysis of the trajectories of life of young former-prisoners based on their relationship with work. The research methodology included analyzes of the prison system, public politics, stigma, documentary research and interviews conducted at Pro-Egresso of Toledo. The theoretical referencial was build up from theoretical conceptions of recognized academic authors and also from dissertations and theses. In this theoretical framework we highlighted authors such as: ABRAMOVAY, ARANTES, BARATTA, CACCIAMALI, CAPELLER, ESTEVES, FOUCAULT, GOFFMAN, GROPPO, JULIÃO, KERBAUY, WOOD, MARX, POCHMANN, RITTER, SAINTS, SALES, SERON and VIEIRA. Our study has the analysis of aspects and implications of social vulnerability related to young people imprisonment as a starting point, bringing about how social vulnerability can act as a conductor in this process. The Pro-Egresso Program of Toledo was investigated in depth and showed, based on data from Legal Files Catalogues (1984/2009), that young former-prisoners were mainly young people from social vulnerability backgrounds, specially when related to work , professionalization and education. Regarding the impact of social and economic structures on young citizens that were subject to this research, we verified that historically the social set of youth suffers due to legal decisions and contradictory politics that do not meet the real demands of the heterogeneous Brazilian youth. The young former-prisoners, subjects of this research, disclosed through analyzes of their perceptions on work, their earlier participation in the labor market, due to the need of a complementary family income and even emancipation. Marked by limited professional experiences in precarious conditions of work they question the role of professionalization as an access tool to formal work. The scars of imprisonment mark these youths which carries the stigma of being a former-prisoner almost everywhere. In their search, there are other elements that demonstrate that work is a source of mix feelings namely burden and accomplishment. Finally, work as saving hope is not such a redeemer as previously expected. / A dissertação investiga as percepções de jovens ex-presidiários sobre o trabalho, a partir de suas falas, do estudo da estigmatização que afeta estes jovens e de aspectos e implicações da vulnerabilidade social. Investiga ainda o Programa Pró-Egresso de Toledo por meio de análise documental. O foco principal de análise evidencia as percepções sobre o trabalho na trajetória de vida de jovens ex-presidiários atendidos pelo Programa Pró-Egresso de Toledo. Para tanto, realizamos pesquisa em profundidade no Programa Pró-Egresso em Toledo-PR e análise da trajetória de vida de jovens ex-presidiários com base em suas relações com o trabalho. O método de pesquisa incluiu análise do sistema prisional, de políticas públicas e o uso da técnica de pesquisa documental e da técnica de entrevista no Pró-Egresso de Toledo. O referencial teórico foi constituído em concepções teóricas de autores reconhecidos academicamente e também em dissertações e teses. Neste arcabouço teórico evidenciamos autores como: Abramovay, Arantes, Baratta, Cacciamali, Capeller, Esteves, Foucault, Goffman, Groppo, Julião, Kerbauy, Madeira, Marx, Pochmann, Ritter, Santos, Sales, Seron e Vieira. Partimos da análise sobre aspectos e implicações da vulnerabilidade social relacionada ao aprisionamento de jovens evidenciando como a vulnerabilidade social pode atuar como condicionante neste processo. O Programa Pró-Egresso de Toledo é investigado em profundidade e revelou, à luz dos dados de seu Catálogo do Acervo Jurídico (1984/2009) que os jovens ex-presidiários se tratavam de jovens em condições de vulnerabilidade social principalmente com relação ao trabalho, profissionalização e educação. Com relação às estruturas sociais e econômicas as quais os jovens sujeitos desta pesquisa são afetados, verificamos que historicamente o conjunto social da juventude padece de decisões legais e politicas contraditórias que não comtemplam as demandas reais da heterogênea juventude brasileira. Os jovens ex-presidiários revelam através da análise de suas percepções sobre o trabalho a existência da precocidade de entrada no mundo do trabalho, responsável, pela necessidade de complementar a renda familiar e até de emancipação. Marcados por curtas experiências profissionais em condições de trabalho precárias colocam em dúvida o papel da profissionalização como acesso ao trabalho formal. As sequelas do cárcere marcam estes jovens que carregam o estigma de ex-presidiários em quase todos os lugares. Em suas falas, há outros elementos que demonstram que o trabalho é fonte de sentimentos contraditórios como: pesar e realização de sonhos. Por fim, a esperança salvacionista do trabalho não é tão redentora como superficialmente imaginamos.