A Computer Connection

The prisoners were just slouching and hanging around, just watching one another, doing nothing productive." Adriana von Kaull still remembers the distressing idleness of the young prisoners she saw when visiting a correctional facility for the first time.

That was 1993. A few years later she founded Maria de las Carceles, a charitable organisation that has become associated with PF Argentina. Adriana realised that inactivity was dangerous to the young offenders she had seen in prison. They were already prone to violence and disruptive behaviour, so she set about to change their situation. When a friend who worked at the telephone company mentioned that they could donate old computers and equipment, Adriana seized on the opportunity to implement a project to help prisoners. With permission from the prison authorities, she and her colleagues set up computer workshops in two local prisons and began training the inmates in computer repair and programming. "It then occurred to me that we could send the repaired computers to schools that could never afford such equipment," she said.

It is estimated that 60 percent of Argentine public schools do not have access to computers and as many as 40 percent are without libraries. In many communities there are pockets of poverty without electricity or running water. "The people who are born there cannot know progress unless they move to the big cities," she notes. Many of the schools receiving the PCs can use them only during the few limited hours that they have access to electricity. To date, more than 150 computers have been donated to nearly 50 schools. Over time the computer workshops were expanded to become a more focused training vehicle for the prisoners. "In Varela, we are now working on a kind of technology village, a micro Silicon Valley, where prisoners will study, repair computers, and perhaps create new technology," says Adriana. Varela is the centre of four penal units with a total of 3,000 prisoners. Plans are being developed to offer a university degree sponsored by the National

Technological University for participating prisoners. Participants may study for two years to become a certified programming technician or three years to earn a degree in computer science. Already the programme is having a positive impact on inmates‘ self-esteem, future job prospects, and their attitudes toward the community.

In one unit of the prison, volunteers have been permitted to work directly with the prisoners participating in the computer workshop, offering them daily prayer and weekly religious discussions. Since the programme began, there have been no reports of violence in the unit.