The "Reading in Prisons" program take the digital turn

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.

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.

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.

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.