“Coding OUT Coding in prison as a valuable OUTside tool for employment” got funding from the European Commission programme Erasmus+.
The project aims to help break the cycle of incarceration by teaching inmates coding skills that can significantly increase their chances of employment post-release.
The project is promoted by GAIA the Association of Electronic and Information Technologies in the Basque Country, in Spain, in partnership with IPS Innovative Prison Systems and the BSAFE LAB of Beira Interior University (Portugal); with CIRE Centre d’Initiatives per a la Reinserció (Catalonia) and EOLAS S.L. from Spain; and the Penitentiary of Baia Mare and the Asociata Start pentru Performanta, from Romania.
During the project a training curricula and training programme will be implemented aiming to empower inmates with marketable skills that lead to employment by developing a training programme in prison focusing on basic computer programming skills (basics of Android and iOS programming, and JavaScript); enhance the inmates’ understanding of a hyper-connected world and environment through increased knowledge of software and coding; improve the skills of prison trainers/educators to train inmates on basic programming by developing and piloting a training programme for staff (blended learning); promote the cooperation of prisons with external organisations that can provide job placement for inmates after release in the software development field; and raise the awareness of prison staff, management, educators/trainers and policymakers to the importance of digital/coding skills enhancement for inmates.
For further information about the Coding OUT project please contact ips@prisonsystems.eu