Corporación Abriendo Puertas
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Mission Statement
Accompany, train and rehabilitate incarcerated women, both during their confinement in the Santiago Women's Penitentiary Center (CPF of Santiago), as well as during their process of reintegration into society and family life , allowing them to recover their dignity, and discover their strengths in order to reduce the risk of criminal recidivism. Gendarmería de Chile is the institution which should provide training and rehabilitation programs for both men and women, as well as control and facilitate their reentry process. The lack of gender consideration to understand the different pathways into crime between men and women have been responsible for inadequate reintegration programs for women. For example, women offenders tend to have more mental health and physical problems than men. Also related to gender considerations, they experience great culpability for their children and therefore become depressed or drug consumers in prison. This is aggravated by the fact that it has been demonstrated that the same person who is in charge of custody is not the best to create the necessary personal link for rehabilitation. Specialized literature has demonstrated that women who establish positive links with persons not related with the criminal justice or custody structure have better reintegration results. Corporación Abriendo Puertas establishes these links through different workshops, courses and activities, aiming at strengthening affectionate links with women becoming the significant other they need to recover self-identity and confidence in themselves. State officials cannot do it. That is why civil society institutions are key to reinsert women. Most women in prison have histories of abuse in their childhood o have lacked parental care and education. Their crimes are less violent than men's and have better rates of rehabilitation because of their desire to recover family life. Because men have been incarcerated at rates far greater than women, the prison system and reentry programs have been designed mainly for men. Women have been historically discriminated by the prison system, including the justice system which sometimes is harder on women for violating gender codes. The social cost of maintaining women who are minor offenders has been proven to have a strong social impact especially on the family. One woman in prison is equivalent to 3 children who remain in institutional or foster care, mostly inadequate. Most women offenders commit crimes related to drugs, particularly micro-traffic, associated with poverty, being single mothers, lack of childcare, etc. It has been proven that an important percentage of youngsters involved in crime have their parents incarcerated. Corporación Abriendo Puertas offers the possibility of jobs which in prison. It counts with a sewing workshop where women are trained and payed for sewing pieces which are later commercialized. Corporación Abriendo Puertas is aware that women recidivism is associated with difficult reintegration into family life and lack of job opportunities. That is why Abriendo Puertas en Libertad is the program that continues supporting them offering psychological support, and searching for job opportunities as well as giving councel for microentreprises they can establish on their own. Those women who engaged in sewing workshop are offered the opportunity to continue related to Abriendo Puertas once they recover their freedom.
About This Cause
Corporación Abriendo Puertas is a non-profit NGO compromised with women offenders' rehabilitation and reintegration into society and the family. It works both in the Centro Penitenciario Femenino, the main women prision in Chile and San Miguel Prison for women in preventive detention. It is officially recognized by Gendarmería de Chile and intervenes aproximately half of the imprisoned population every year. It counts with 4 classrooms in the prision and an office for administrative purposes. Its personnel consists of only 2 persons that receive a salary and the majority of the classes and workshops are offered by volunteers. It receives no state funding. Its funding comes from donations by private persons and the application for state and private grants.