HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL REINTEGRATION: THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND WORK IN FEDERAL DISTRICT PRISONS

Abstract

This article analyzes, from a human rights perspective, the promotion of the social reintegration of people deprived of liberty through education and work in prisons in the Federal District of Brazil. It assumes that imprisonment restricts freedom of movement but does not extinguish the other fundamental rights of the incarcerated person. Therefore, education, vocational training, and decent work cannot be treated as favors, disciplinary rewards, or merely utilitarian instruments of institutional control. The study adopts a qualitative, bibliographic, and documentary approach, with an exploratory and critical-descriptive purpose. The sources include the 1988 Federal Constitution, the Brazilian Penal Execution Law, educational and penitentiary regulations, international human rights instruments, decisions of the Federal Supreme Court, documents issued by the National Council of Justice, the Federal District Prison Work Plan, the Federal District Education Plan for Persons Deprived of Liberty 2025–2028, and academic literature on prison, education, work, and social reintegration. The findings show that the Federal District has a relevant institutional framework involving the Prison Administration Department, the Education Department, and the Foundation for the Support of Incarcerated Workers. Programs include youth and adult education, sentence reduction through reading, vocational courses, and prison labor inside and outside correctional facilities. Nevertheless, unequal access, insufficient infrastructure, the subordination of educational routines to security priorities, weak post-release continuity, and low-skilled prison labor remain significant obstacles. The article concludes that education and work can promote human rights-based reintegration only when implemented with progressively universal access, meaningful voluntariness, pedagogical quality, fair remuneration, protection against discrimination, and coordination with post-release policies.