PERCEPTIONS OF FORMAL PRISON EDUCATION. A CASE STUDY OF PRISONERS AND TEACHERS IN A PRISON IN THE COMMUNITY OF MADRID

Abstract

The present study tries to analyze the formal education that is given in a Penitentiary Center of the Community of Madrid from the perception of prisoners and teachers. The work is of a qualitative nature, where two open-question questionnaires designed ad-hoc and previously validated by specialists were applied. 57 prisoners and 5 teachers belonging to Level I and Level II of Initial Education corresponding to adult education participated and the Atlas / ti version 8 tool was used to analyze the data obtained. The results show the limitations in the educational and personal history of the people deprived of liberty, being the prison an environment that has allowed the inmates to resume their studies and thereby promote greater self-confidence, in addition to reducing their levels of stress and anxiety thanks to the possibility that the school offers them when it comes to disconnecting from their daily problems. The teachers, for their part, emphasized the motivation of the students and their daily work, since despite the scarcity of resources, they put into practice innovative and active methodologies in the center. Regarding the relationship between formal education and reintegration, most of the prisoners are optimistic, considering that education could serve them in their future reintegration process. Teachers were more cautious in this immediate possibility, pointing out limitations in achieving their personal goals in freedom. Finally, the work emphasizes the need to contextualize educational processes in the prison environment, emphasizing real, viable and adapted training possibilities for life in freedom, in order to favor and improve social reintegration.