“Respect”; three days of internship in the Spanish prison in Leon (2.000 places) in 2025.
“Fresh Start” is an Erasmus+ project that enabled 9 Portuguese, Belgian and Italian educators and psychologists to be hosted in April 2024 by the Proyecto Joven association and the Leon Prison Centre (Spain), to discover an avant-garde experiment: the 8 “Respect” modules in the Leon prison. The 850 prisoners can choose between the ordinary detention regime, similar to most European prisons, and the 8 ‘Respect’ modules, which are similar to most therapeutic communities for drug addicts, but in a prison environment.
As a result, 640 inmates (75%) chose to undergo community therapy during their time in prison. There are 6 modules (buildings) for men, one module for women and one mixed module, which is exceptional in prison. Daily life is structured on the basis of a bio-psycho-social method in which the inmates are very active and their daily schedule is divided between household chores, seminars, sport, creative and cultural activities, socio-professional reintegration, interpersonal confrontations and therapeutic groups.
These ‘respect’ modules began in 2005 in Leon and are now present in most Spanish prisons. As it is high time that this model was transferred to other prisons in Europe, the Fresh Start participants intend to create an Erasmus+ KA3 project in 2025.
