REHABILITATION Taking a kind look at the inmate

Aurélie Decarpentrie

libre-en-soi@outlook.com

The new association Libre en soi has set itself the mission of training and supporting inmates, through a program aimed in particular at developing soft skills and emotional intelligence. Aurélie Decarpentrie, coach and specialist educator by training, discusses the motivations behind her vocation for social work and this group of beneficiaries in particular. His hope: to convince citizens and businesses of the merits of his project, which is the subject of a fundraising campaign on the Small Step Matters platform.

The detainees, why are we interested in this public? They are the bad guys, the good-for-nothings, the rotten fruits of society! What if it was you? What if you were born into another family, in another neighborhood with another reality? If from your earliest childhood your parents told you: “You are good for nothing, you will end up badly!”. What if your mother had gone crazy when you were young and your alcoholic father beat you up every time he was drunk? Or what if you were born in a neighborhood, with barely enough to eat every day, barely a roof over your head? Do you think you would have been the same person? Would you have made the same choices? Obviously no, your life would have been different. We are not born equal with the same opportunities, the same realities and therefore the same awareness of things. This is why it seems essential to me to “train” the inmate, to give him access to all the tools so that he can, with full knowledge of the facts, make his decisions to move forward in life. Yes, then the choices are up to him but at least he will have had the right to be aware of the tools, possibilities and support. Invaluable support... Perhaps the most important part of the support offered; offer him a face-to-face, someone who is capable of seeing in him what he does not see. To see the treasures hidden there and to believe in him because no one until now has believed in him, no one has looked at him kindly... One look can change everything...

Punish but after?

If you punish your child and he does not understand his punishment, without explanation, without support, he will find it unfair and will maintain a "resentment" in relation to this punishment which will seem unjustified to him. Well, we adults work the same way. When the fault or error is serious, yes, a sanction is necessary but this must be linked to the act committed and above all, support is necessary, otherwise the person may, after coming out of their punishment, be even more "damaged" than they were before. already was. His already crooked heart and mind may well end up completely upside down after