The Sipar Library: a resource center for juvenile inmates 

In Kandal province, the first rehabilitation center for minors opened a year ago. This unique facility in Cambodia was created to offer an alternative to traditional prisons. Until then, young inmates were incarcerated with adults, in conditions that were ill-suited to their age and needs. Now, teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 24 can serve their sentences in an environment designed to prepare them for the future. Sipar has set up a library there, which supports the inmates on a daily basis.

An approach focused on reintegration

The inmates housed in this center have been sentenced to terms ranging from two to ten years, mainly for drug trafficking. The majority of them are still minors. Unlike traditional prisons, where educational support is limited, everything here has been designed to encourage responsibility and learning. The conditions of detention have been redesigned to promote genuine social and professional reintegration upon release from prison.

Learning to rebuild oneself

Many activities are offered to young people at the center. Training courses in agriculture and mechanics are organized, as well as remedial classes and English lessons. The efforts made by inmates are rewarded: regular participation can lead to sentence reductions of up to nine months.

The Sipar Library, a resource center

At the heart of the center, the library and multimedia space set up by Sipar play an essential role. This place has become a real hub for learning and exchange. Young people can read there, borrow books for their cells, and take part in educational activities. The BEEP programme,, which allows students to obtain a middle school equivalency diploma, is also offered there. Thanks to these tools, the days are filled with education and socialization.

Encouraging results

Since it opened, the Kandal center has shown how well this model works. There have been few reports of violence and no escape attempts. Most importantly, none of the young people who have left the center have reoffended. These results show how important it is to provide tailored, humane support. As the center's director, Mr. Phea Vannak, points out: “I encourage them to view the center as a boarding school, where they have come to learn and serve society.”

A model to be extended in Cambodia

In light of these advances, the creation of new centers for minors has been made a priority for the Cambodian government. Four additional facilities are planned to meet growing needs. The Kandal center, with a capacity of 1,200 people, is expected to reach full capacity by early 2026. The development of similar facilities throughout the country will allow young convicts to remain close to their families, which is crucial to their rehabilitation.

By supporting this center and developing its educational activities, Sipar is directly helping to give hundreds of young Cambodians a second chance. Access to reading, education, and training remains one of the most powerful tools for a successful reintegration.

L’article La bibliothèque Sipar : un lieu de ressources pour les détenus mineurs  est apparu en premier sur Sipar.

When prisons become multimedia learning centers

As part of our program "Education in prisons", this innovative project gives inmates in seven pilot prisons access to digital and audiovisual tools to help them prepare for reintegration.

Initiated in July 2024, the project is in partnership with the Directorate General of Prisons, the Ministry of Education and supported by the Fund for Innovation in Development. Two off-line learning platforms are used by 335 inmates (including 36 women), downloaded onto a server connected to seven computers.

The platform Beep (Basic Education Equivalency Programme) developed by UNESCO and the Cambodian Ministry of Education, offers equivalent courses to the junior high school curriculum. It enables those who left school at the end of primary school to complete this streamlined curriculum. It then opens the door to high-quality vocational training.

There are currently 55 student prisoners, including 16 women. All are at the end of their sentences, and are actively preparing for their upcoming reintegration.

A second platform called Skills for Development Programme was developed by Sipar and its partners? It offers classes in three areas:

• Three levels of learning English as a foreign language (literacy and levels A1 and A2), leading to a certificate issued by project partner Pañasastra University.
• Basic digital skills: modules developed by our partner Passerelles numériques.
• Modules to prepare prisoners for socio-professional reintegration in the form of videos shown in groups at the end of their sentence. They provide useful information on topics such as managing emotions, positive communication, managing finances, preparing for employment, setting up a micro-business...

All this content is based on interactive teaching methods adapted to the prison environment: short, lively filmed lessons, abundantly illustrated, with quizzes and practical exercises, all of which are greatly appreciated by the inmates who learn them.

Since 2012, Sipar has been committed to bringing education and reading to prisoners through the creation of prison libraries.

By offering detainees access to reading, digital learning and appropriate training, Sipar gives them the means to rebuild their lives. Acquiring new skills and preparing for reintegration thus reduces the risk of recidivism. By transforming prison libraries into veritable learning centers, Sipar takes concrete action to ensure the successful reintegration of prisoners and a more inclusive society.

L’article Quand les prisons se transforment en lieux d’apprentissage multimédia est apparu en premier sur Sipar.

In the women's prison: play, laugh and imagine to forget

or the first time, Sipar has teamed up with Clowns Sans Frontières Cambodian circus school Phare Ponleu Selpak to offer trois semaines d’ateliers artistiques aux femmes détenues de la prison des femmes du Cambodge – CC2 de Phnom Penh.

Credit : Clowns Sans Frontières

Améliorer le bien-être des détenus est l’un des objectifs du programme « Education in prisons » program carried out by Sipar since 2012, which has been going from strength to strength ever since. Prison overcrowding at CC2 exceeds 400%, and conditions are testing both physically and psychologically. This artistic project not only gives the inmates access to culture, but above all enables them to forget the harshness of their environment for the duration of a workshop.

With this in mind, from December 11 to December 29, Sipar, CSF and Phare organized workshops in object theater, puppet creation and manipulation, music and acrobatics. The workshops benefited 22 women and culminated in four performances open to all 1,000 inmates, including prison staff.  "They were able to see what theatrical, clowning and circus work was all about... We made company, as we say back home,"says Garniouze, artistic coordinator of the mission. "I have the audacity to think that we were able to help them escape a little through our workshops. The 22 women were fantastic. The results were there, and so was the ambition,", he adds.

Credit : Clowns Sans Frontières

Thanks to Fondation Pierre Bellon for facilitating contact with Clowns Sans Frontières, qui apporte un soutien psychosocial à travers le rire et le spectacle à des milliers de personnes vulnérables à travers le monde. Merci aux détenues de la prison des femmes du Cambodge.

L’article Dans la prison des femmes du Cambodge : jouer, rire et s’imaginer pour oublier est apparu en premier sur Sipar.

Organized by UNODC, the colloque « Read Your Way, pour une réforme des prisons à travers les bibliothèques pour l’éducation des personnes en détention »was held in Manila from 13 to 16 March 2023. Béatrice Montariol, consultant for Sipar, based in Cambodia for 31 years, intervened to present our program "Education in prisons".

Sipar's experience of 10 years of collaboration with the General Department of Prisons of Cambodia for the creation of the national network of libraries in the 28 prisons of the kingdom was of particular interest to the hundred participants from all over the world. Already, prospects for the exchange of practices in the field of education and reintegration of detainees between Cambodia and the Philippines were under way.

In mid-September, one of the representatives of theUNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) of the Philippines informed us of the influence that the experience conducted by Sipar in Cambodia has had on the policy of libraries and reading in prisons in the Philippines.

In particular, they were able to set standards for prison libraries and their access to reading program. It was an existing but aging program and not yet institutionalized. The goal of the Philippines, as for Sipar in Cambodia, is to have at least one library in every prison and to make inmates active participants in the management of the library and not just beneficiaries.

We are delighted that Sipar's expertise can inspire other countries. There is still a long way to go and we are delighted to be able to learn and be inspired by the initiatives that exist around the world so that people deprived of their liberty can have the right to education.

L’article Notre expertise dans les Prisons inspire les Philippines est apparu en premier sur Sipar.

The "Reading in Prisons" program take the digital turn

Since 2012, thanks to Sipar, inmates in Cambodia's 28 prisons have been able to escape their daily prison routine by reading. Since 2022, they have also had access to tablets and computers to familiarize themselves with digital technology and help them rebuild their lives.

Contributing to the education and training of prisoners and enabling them to dream of a better future is the goal of our “Prison Libraries” program. Sipar and its partners are convinced of the positive impact of this program and wanted to go further by equipping the libraries with a digital lab containing five to ten computers, whose content can be accessed by everyone offline.

These interactive digital tools offer new opportunities for inmates to :

• continue their secondary education,
• acquire technical skills: agriculture, cooking, mechanics, etc.
• improve their command of a foreign language: English, Chinese, Thai, etc.
• strengthen their practical life skills: managing finances, preparing for employment, running a micro-business, etc.
• develop their knowledge of the fundamentals of computer science.

This programme is a great innovation in the Cambodian context. The rapid advances in the digital field in the country are such that its mastery is becoming more and more necessary, especially for young people who have broken socialization.

Introduction of cultural activities

We are also continuing and strengthening our consultation and book lending services, and introducing cultural and literary creation activities to promote the personal development of prisoners.

Literacy classes, which have benefited nearly 1,000 people to date, are continuing with a new curriculum, enabling students to master reading, writing, and arithmetic. Inmates who wish to continue beyond this level will have access to secondary school programs (up to the final year) downloaded onto the NomadLab computers.

10 years of impact

Throughout the years, we have observed an increase in the use of our library services by inmates. To date, more than 25% of the 38,000 prisoners come to read, and more than 124,000 books have been borrowed over the last three years of the program. Prison authorities are very invested in the project, and guards—and some inmates—are trained in library management, a role they particularly enjoy. This final phase of the project has enabled the complete and definitive transfer of library management to the General Directorate of Prisons (GDP). As with all our programs, our goal is sustainability.

A better prepared rehabilitation

In recent years, the Cambodian government has been waging an intense campaign to combat drug trafficking, resulting in an increasing number of incarcerations. Prisons are overcrowded and conditions of detention are increasingly complicated. In 2022, about 70% of inmates are incarcerated for this reason, a majority of whom are under the age of 25.

Getting out of solitary confinement, participating in better rehabilitation and combating violence in prisons by offering occupancy to inmates in Cambodia's 28 prisons is the mission of the "Libraries in Prisons" programme.

L’article Le programme « Bibliothèques en prisons » prend le virage du numérique est apparu en premier sur Sipar.