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Articles

Exercising fundamental rights in punitive conditions: education in Spanish prisons

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Pages 1206-1220 | Received 16 Nov 2018, Accepted 25 Mar 2019, Published online: 05 Apr 2019
 

ABSTRACT

States use confinement in prisons to punish people who break the regulations and laws established in every society. Although prison limits the right to freedom by constraining the convict’s options for self-realisation and social participation, the right to education, like the other rights, remains in force, prevailing at least in, or over and above, the context of prison. This study analyses education from the perspective of human rights and the exercise of fundamental rights in Spanish prisons by studying the legal and regulatory framework and the basic characteristics of educational paths prior to prison. It focuses on a context in which provision of both formal and informal education for women prisoners still shows deficiencies in education and training. The study also evaluates the importance of protecting the right to education in places of punishment, and the influence of education on social reintegration processes. Its goal is to analyse the diverse living conditions of women prisoners, an especially vulnerable group in society from both the socio-educational and the gender perspective. Finally, we recommend that states not only implement a full, high-quality education system in prisons but also ensure professional and contextualised work suitable to the characteristics of those confined to prison.

Acknowledgements

Financial support from project EDU2016-79322-R is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Karen Giovanna Añaños Bedriñana is Adjunct Professor of the Department of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law and a research collaborator of the Institute of Peace and Conflicts (IPAZ) at the University of Granada, Spain. She is specialised in Systems of International Protection of Human Rights: Inter-American and European; and Vulnerable Populations; International Lawyer (Peru and Spain) with professional experience in the Human Rights Office of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation of Spain; and The Department of International Law of the Organization of American States (OAS) of Washington, DC, United States.

Fanny Tania Añaños Bedriñana is Associate Professor of the Department of Pedagogy and Sub-Director of the Institute of Peace and Conflicts (IPAZ), at the University of Granada, Spain. Her teaching is focused on Social Pedagogy and Social Education. She is currently leading a National Project on the Processes of Reinsertion of Women in Prison, and has directed and edited the book: En Prisión. Realidades e intervención socioeducativa y drogodependencias en mujeres (Narcea S.A. Ediciones, 2017).

José Antonio Rodríguez Martín is Associate Professor of the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Granada, Spain, and a member of the research group of the Junta de Andalucía of Spain: “Studies on wellbeing, environment and economic policy”. The interests of his research focus on Human Development, Education and Health of the most Vulnerable Groups and Social and Economic indicators, and he is the author of numerous articles on these topics in specialised journals of international prestige.

Notes

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Additional information

Funding

This research has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (project reference EDU2016-79322-R).

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