Foreign Nationals in Prison

West Flanders;

The foreign prisoners are encouraged to learn a language that allows them to communicate. In prison, there is weekly an open learning centre organised by the adult basic education centre (CENTRUM BASISEDUCATIE). They work individual and on tempo of the learner. They learn to read, to write or/and to speak a language. Every month, a group lesson is organised. Since the beginning of 2016, three courses were especially for foreign prisoners to learn ‘Dutch in prison’.

National; CBE
Province West-Flanders, CBE, VOCVO
Liesbeth De Wit (OC): liesbeth.de.wit@vocvo.be

All foreign prisoners can apply for language studies. Swedish Tuition for Immigrants is advanced language instruction aiming to give adult immigrants basic knowledge of the Swedish language. Students with a mother tongue other than Swedish should in the education learn and develop a functioning second language. The education should provide language tools for communication and active participation in daily, societal and working life.

The education also aims at giving adult immigrants who lack basic reading and

writing skills the opportunity of acquiring such skills. A student who is not functionally literate,

or has a writing system that differs from the Latin alphabet, should receive instruction in reading

and writing within the framework of the education.

The education is intended for persons with different experiences, life situations, knowledge and study goals.

The education should be planned and organized together with students and adapted

to their interests, experiences, all-round knowledge and long-term goals.

The education should take as its starting point the needs of the individual, be capable of

combining with employment or other activities such as orientation to working life, validation,

work practice or other forms of education. It must be flexibly designed in terms of time, place,

content and working forms to enable students to take part.

Goal and nature of the education

The goal of Swedish Tuition for Immigrants is that students should develop:

• their ability to read and write Swedish,
• their ability to speak, discuss, read, listen and understand Swedish in different contexts,
• good pronunciation,
• their ability to use relevant study aids,
• their ability to adapt the language to different recipients and situations,
• insights into how a language is learnt, and
• learning and communication strategies for further language development.

Swedish Tuition for Immigrants aims to provide students with communicative language skills.

This means being able to communicate, both orally and in writing, based on their needs.

Students must acquire knowledge and skills of different kinds to be able to make relevant

language choices in relation to the current communicative situation. Communicative language

skills cover different competences that interact and supplement each other. Communicative

language skills thus presuppose both access to a language system and knowledge of how this

system is used. Knowledge of the language system covers words, phrases, pronunciation and

grammatical structures, whilst knowledge about the use of language deals with how a text is

built up, making choices over functional language, and adaptation in relation to recipient and

purpose. An important competence is also being able to use strategies in the most effective way

to communicate the message.

In Swedish Tuition for Immigrants, students should develop their awareness of the process of

learning a language and insights into their own learning. Students should also develop their

intercultural competence by reflecting over their own cultural experiences, and comparing these

with phenomena in daily, societal and working life in Sweden.

In Swedish Tuition for Immigrants, students should develop their competence in using different

digital tools and aids for information, communication and learning.

All prisoners can also apply for courses

National

Tommy.Nyman@kriminalvarden.se

The main languages used in Estonian prisons are Estonian and Russian. Detainees have the opportunity to learn Estonian.

Datinee Center: 01.07.2015-30.06.2018, is a project called AMIF2015-17 “Counseling and interest in the activities of the detention center.” was carried out. In this project, 6 English and 6 Estonian language courses were organized. Resources and activities are co-financed by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Ministry of the Interior Ministry.

National

merike.tartu@just.ee

Europe: Belgium Lead Foriner Project;

EU Funded Project to study innovative methods of distance learning for European Prisoners in European prisons, looking especially at IT lead initiatives.

European
EU funded project under Erasmus + Programme Ended January 2018
www.foriner.eu foriner@vovco.be

In the prison library, the collection contains books in foreign languages (narratives but also textbooks). The prisoners can also loan books from the city library, where the collection is wider.

Local Initiative Ypres Prison
Province West-Flanders & city Ypres
Luc Vermeersch (Bib): vermeerschconix@hotmail.com Tine Van Laeken (CF): tine.vanlaeken@derodeantraciet.be

The prison library has books available in both Estonian and in Russian.

National

merike.tartu@just.ee

All prisons and remand prisons have a library with a wide range of literature and it is also possible to order literature in the language that is needed.

National and local

Lars.hakan.nilsson@kriminalvarden.se