Adult Continuing Education and Re-educational Treatment: models, interventions and educational roles in prison

Abstract

The association of the punitive dimension with the re-educational one finds a fundamental assumption in the constitutional statement that establishes that punishment must ‘tend’ towards re-education.  In the pedagogical sphere, from the 1960s onwards, the declination in a ‘corrective’ sense of the educational dimension has become increasingly problematic, and realising the educational value that can arise from penal sanction is a current challenge.

In this article we will reflect on the educational function during the adult prison sentence, highlighting the need for a line of coherence between the principles of Adult Education, Lifelong and Longwide Learning, Critical and Transformative Pedagogy, with ‘re-educative treatment’. We will focus on three aspects: the educational conditions of the adult detainee; the analysis of theories and intervention models; the role of the legal-pedagogical officer.