Sitawi participated in a meeting with the Undersecretary of Prison Administration of the State of Minas Gerais, Colonel Edilson Ivair Costa, where she was introduced by researcher Roberta Santos, from PUC-MG and by her advisor, Professor Flávio Sapori, former assistant secretary of Secretary of State for Social Defense (SEDS), a study on the determinants of criminal recidivism in the State of MG. The research proposes a new methodology for evaluating public policies aimed at reducing recidivism, based on the criminal record sheet administered by the police.
According to the survey, the group with the highest recidivism rate was men (300% higher than women), young people up to 24 years old, and the earlier the start of a life in crime and the greater the number of previous investigations, the greater propensity to recidivism in crime. The study also showed that the type of frame (type of crime) is not as significant to explain the differences in recidivism rates.
The SIB was presented as a way of enabling effective solutions to reduce criminal recidivism in the State, through the financing of preventive interventions that promote the improvement of prison conditions and the effective social reintegration of the State's convicts. Minas Gerais has the second largest prison population in the country, with more than 65 thousand prisoners serving time and, in many cases, with serious problems of overcrowding. The Government's current budget constraints hamper the investments needed to create new vacancies in the prison system.
While alternative models to the common prison system are being discussed, the SIB offers a new approach to test hypotheses for solutions to the challenges faced by States and society. Some alternatives are interventions operated by civil society service providers who act on the cause of the problem of recidivism by promoting human development, integral education, professional insertion, family and community integration and citizen participation. The APACs? Association for the Protection of Convicts ?, a civil society association maintained by the local community that obtains legal custody from the Judiciary for prisoners undergoing rehabilitation (closed, semi-open and open systems) and private prisons, managed by specialized companies and in partnership with the State are some examples.
