Brazil and Italy offer sentence reductions for prisoners who read books and write short articles about them. In Brazil, inmates can have four days off their sentence for every book, with a limit of 12 books per year. Italy offers three days off for each book. The programs aim to reduce overcrowding, promote literacy, and provide inmates with new opportunities.
Brazil and Italy are experimenting with a new way to help prisoners get on the right track. Both countries have programs where prisoners can have their sentence slightly reduced if they read a book and write a short article about it. At the Casa de Custodia de Piraquara, a huge prison facility in southern Brazil, inmates can have four days off their sentence for every book they read. Only certain books are eligible, and sentence reductions are limited to 12 books (or 48 days’ reduction) per year.
Read sentences, reduce sentences:
In Italy, convicts get three days of reduced sentences for every book they read. In both countries, officials hope to reduce overcrowding, promote literacy and allow inmates to make different choices.
Italy has the second worst prison overcrowding in Europe, after Serbia. And Brazil has some of the most dangerous prisons in the world, ravaged by disease and gang warfare.
“We hope to create a new lease on life for them,” says a Brazilian official. “It’s about gaining knowledge and culture and being able to step into another universe.”
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
