Algarve prisoners to receive the national minimum wage

Parish Councils in the Faro area and the Algarve University, have signed up for a scheme to give local prisoners more opportunities to work.

The Directorate General for Reintegration and Prison Services signed a deal with the University and the Union of Parishes to allow selected inmates to get some work experience, for example in street cleaning, garden and park maintenance, mechanics and building techniques depending on their aptitudes.

"The prison population is very diverse, we have people with very different skills," said Celso Manata, the Prison Service's Director General.

Prisoners need to volunteer for the programme, already must have completed at least half of their sentence, have no blemish on their record of behaviour and must have been taking an active part in prison activities.

The prisoners taking part in the scheme will receive the national minimum wage and will be supervised, depending on the sort of work they are involved in.

Manata did not say how many inmates will be released on these work experience periods and did not know when the scheme will start as there is the inevitable paperwork to wade through.

"We want place them, but obviously in safety and without causing alarm in the community. We have to select people well so that everything works smoothly and can be another success," said the Director General.

This type of work experience scheme operates in other parts of the country and is deemed successful.

The University is involved because many people in the Algarve’s prisons take distance learning courses. Also, undergraduates research issues related to the prison system, work experience scheme being one area.

"We already have a lot of prisoners, compared to previous decades, who attend university education," concluded the Director General.

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