Training in Tampere

From 6 to 8th of February we were in Tampere, Finland for a LTT hosted by SILTA VALMENNUS. The meeting was attended by representatives of UISP Alessandria, Courage Foundation and Orbi Bulgaria and their partners from GDIN, Stara Zagora Prison, Alessandria Prison, Comunità La Casa di Roma.

At Silta, Tampere, rehabilitation works! Young people with addiction, socially excluded, long unemployed people and prisoners, have a CHANCE to choose. At Silta they are not alone, they find professionals, peers and friends to discuss problems and plans.

We met with Kirsi, Raijo and Tanja to hear first hand about the long process of rehabilitation, the prisoners’ learning paths, the job training and education of prisoners on the way to a life free of crime and addiction. We visited SILTA installations: the furniture workshop, Silta’s restaurant where prisoners are putting in practice their social skills, the graphic design and IT workshop, we participate in the weaving workshop making some reflectors. We also met Saku, an ex-convict with a 9-year sentence, now part of the SILTA team, who made the long road from the sentence to working as a social mediator being today the real example for people like him.

If prison inmates receive the opportunity to learn professional skills and acquire knowledge in a specialized field, not only they will rarely return to prison, but they could build businesses, create jobs, and inspire their local communities.

Change doesn’t have to wait until the sentence is over. Change can happen in prison, all along the way.