The project 'Prisoners on the move. Move into sport, move through sport!' is situated within detention. Prisoners are (temporary) excluded from society because of their sentence. Yet, every prisoner preserves the right to education, culture, healthcare, well-being, work and sport. Therefore it 's important that there is an aid and service offered to prisoners. In spite of the fact that the sports sector has taken big steps forward in its social functions in the last decenium, prisoners remain within the 'Sport for All-policy' mostly out of the picture. The prison sector itself has insufficient expertise to develop a qualitative and accessible sports offer in each prison. This is a cross-sectoral responsibility starting from a strong cooperation between the prison and sports sector. Give prisoners chances...
to move into sport!
In Europe, the detention policy is a human and recovery oriented policy that aims to prepare prisoners as good as possible to a succesfull return to society. This is not simple. Most of the prisoners have a difficult personal history and often carry negative experiences. Many are also vulnerable when it comes to education, employment, housing and social networks. Often, they have an arrears from which they must try to retake their position into society. This is in particular applicable to those belonging to ethnic minority groups who are, anno 2010, over-representated in European prisons. In some EU countries they represent up to 50% and more. In particular in the male age group 18-30 years and the women we see a strong increase.
Often, sport is one of the last areas where an important group of prisoners can identify themselves in a positive way. They have a link with a sport, sport club,… .
Sport is universal and requires just a few words. This makes sport accessible to a heterogeneous group of prisoners and provides an interesting medium to set up programs around social inclusion. Sport as a "laboratory" where prisoners can practise social and other (organisational, administrative,…) skills which are useful for a return to society. At the moment there is, in the sport and prison sector, a lack of evidence-based programs to exploit more strongly these opportunities. Give prisoners chances... to move through sport!
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE(S) AND EXPECTED RESULTS
With the project 'Prisoners on the move. Move into sport, move through sport!' we, within a European context, want to map the broad sports sector. This network analysis gives a first impression of how sport actors, each from their own position, can play a meaningful part in linking sport in the prison with sport outside the detention walls. As a result, the broad sports sector will be informed concerning the preparatory project and the corresponding website. In the first stage, the project website is an information channel for those who want to learn more about the set up and content of the preparatory project.
In a second and third stage the project website must develop into a tool for a learning partnership and a digital platform which brings actors who work within the same field of expertise actively together. A second result of the network analysis is a SWOT analysis. Through consultation of the project partners we want to obtain information on the possibilities the broad sports sector sees to set up a cooperation with the prison sector. This information, on the basis of the consultation and the SWOT analysis, is important for defining further (preparatory) actions. A next step is setting up an awareness campaign that aims to give a correct picture about on one hand all the facets of detention and on the other hand the different functions which sport can have within detention. The result is a promotion film which is placed on the project website and which is made available to sport actors and other interested people. This is a first step towards cooperation.
During the image formation concerning detention, we will have particular attention for ethnic minorities. For this reason and in order to gather founded insights, we will do research on this topic at the start of the preparatory actions. Further on in the preparatory project, an intercultural process manager will be appointed who will monitor this focus during the implementation of the preparatory actions.
To inspire the broad sports sector not only a picture of detention is given. Also good sport practices are collected and shared. The project partners and if possible other network actors get the possibility to visit sport projects in and around prisons.
An overview study of sport projects running in European prisons will be coupled to this. This study will be described in a paper and (via the project website) made available to the broad sports sector and other interested parties.
The meaning of sport in detention is multi-purpose: entertainment, dispersal, social meeting, health, catharsis,…. The meaning and the positive impact attributed to sport is mostly related to short term effects. The positive impact of sport in the long term is less clear. Or alternatively, how can sport reinforce the chances of social inclusion of prisoners returning to society? These questions form the basis of a study to define strategies and methodologies that can be incorporated in sport programs.
Building onto this, we want to look more specifically at how we can use sport ethics,fair play, solidarity, integrity, handling winning and losing, respect for the antagonist, etc, in the training of the social skills of prisoners. Social skills that are used in several areas: work, education, family,…. Furthermore they can help in dealing with various (stress) situations. In this context, we 're planning a pilot project in Denmark and Belgium as an important part of the preparatory project.
The results of these different projects are brought together and presented during the closing meeting (open seminar). They form the basis for on the one hand founded recommendations to policy makers and are on the other hand the beginning for setting up future actions. This with one mission: prisoners on the move.
ORGANISATION/IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT AND THE ROLE OF THE PARTNERS
The preparatory actions are carried out by a mix of divergent partners who are active in the field of sport, justice and/or well-being. The complementary mix and common interest in sport and detention bind them and allow each partner from its role and position to make a valuable contribution to the preparatory project 'Prisoners on the move. Move into sport, move through sport!'. We can classify the project partners according to their commitment in the project.
The general coordination is in the hands of The Red Anthracite non profit association (Belgium). The six working partners in the preparatory project are Sport & Citizenship (France), Sport for Solidarity (United Kingdom), Universitat the Valencia (Spain), Prison and Probation Service (Denmark), CRED ngo (Romania), and The International Centre for Ethics and Sport (Belgium). With these working partners we foresee five work meetings.
The overall preparatory project will be done by the CRED ngo, Sport & Citizenship, The Prison and Probation Service and The Red Anthracite. For the study and research work, these partners can count on the University of Valencia and the International Centre for Ethics in Sport. Sport for Solidarity has a specific role within the objective 'promoting cooperation between the broad sports sector and the prison sector'.
Moreover, the supporting partners are prepared to share their expertise with sport-related initiatives in and with prisons and they show their interest to be involved in future projects.
At the start of the preparatory actions following supporting (Belgian) partners have promised their collaboration: Open Stadion vzw, FROS amateursportfederatie, BLOSO/Vlaamse Trainersschool, and the Prison Service. It 's the intention to involve new supporting partners during the period of the preparatory project.
EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT
During the preparatory actions we foresee both process and product evaluations. Process evaluation is related to the course of the preparatory actions and the way the project aims are pursued. Points of evaluation are foreseen during the common project meetings. The product evaluation is focussed on the final results as described within the preparatory project plan. The indicators are established in consultation with the project partners. At the close out of the preparatory project a final evaluation is planned with the stake- and shareholders that were involved in the preparatory project 'Prisoners on the move. Move into sport, move through sport!'