15 internees from the therapeutic units at Villabona prison join the TV-LAB project in a collaboration between LABoral and Adsis Foundation
From this Friday 18th, they will start participating in the workshops held by Neokinok.tv which will take place at the Adsis Foundation Day Centre and at LABoral
More than 1,000 students have participated at TV-LAB project. Photo: Elena de la Puente
A group of internees from the therapeutic units at Villabona Prison who are currently following a treatment programme for rehabilitation and and social inclusion at the Adsis Foundation Day Centre will participate from this Friday 18th November in TV-LAB, the experimental television laboratory. This is a platform for communication and collective collaboration promoted by LABoral, which is based on a website created by the participants themselves onto which they upload their own audiovisual material.
Developed by Neokinok.tv, TV-LAB is a didactic project aimed at encouraging cooperative and creative learning based on the use of communication media, such as the television and the internet, in an educational way. Since its creation at the Centre of Art and Industrial Creation in May 2009, 1,157 students and teachers from many different educational centres in Asturias have participated in its various sessions.
The organisation of this activity arose from a collaboration agreement between LABoral and the Adsis Foundation, an NGO that promotes and implements different projects aimed at the social integration of disadvantaged groups, the education and social promotion of young people, as well as programmes in development cooperation. As part of the programme for the social inclusion of prisoners and ex-offenders by Adsis, the inmates will participate in four monthly intensive workshops which will take place in sessions on Friday and Saturday until next April. At the NGO’s Day Centre, located in Dindurra Street, Gijón, as well as at LABoral’s plat0, the 15 participants will work on the development of a communication platform and prepare, produce and upload their own works onto this online platform.
The Neokinok.tv collective group believes that although until recently producing audiovisual content was the privilege of a minority, with technological democratisation any minimally trained user can go from being a mere receptor to a broadcaster of contents.
In this particular case TV- LAB aims to encourage the development of ideas and tools for open audiovisual creation and research, combining the disciplines of technology, art and current thinking; sharing and generating knowledge, based on networking in which the participants in this initial workshop are able to transmit the knowledge they have acquired to others; and also to promote the use of open source tools and free culture. In addition, it seeks that after the workshop, its participants and the Adsis Foundation are capable of carrying on with their production and uploading content on the platform web in a self-sufficient way.
Besides this, between each session the participants will work on the content which they will then record and post on the online platform.
Neokinok.tv is a collective that works in audiovisual creation and experimental television. Since 1998, Neokinok.tv has launched various temporary provisional television channels on UHF and VHF frequencies. It has broadcast both on analog and by internet using streaming and free technologies. It works in the creation of communication platforms in permanent development, both conceptually and technically. These channels can be tunable through the TV set, along with the other channels, and they can also be accessed on the Internet.
Other similar projects by Neokinok.tv are:
TVLATA, Salvador de Bahía, Brazil
http://www.tvlata.org/
Radiomensió. Communication and participation experimental office of Prat http://radiomensio.wordpress.com/
TVCREATIVA. . Creation workshop of the Communication Laboratories http://tvcreativa.wordpress.com/
DANÇA EM FOCO. Mobile Camera Creation Office
http://sites.google.com/site/oficinavideodanca/
Duration and Format
This project includes four intensive workshops with two sessions in each one (Friday, 4 hours and Saturday, 9 hours). On Friday, they will be held at the Adsis Foundation Day Centre, and on Saturday, in plat0 at LABoral.
Session dates
Friday 18 and Saturday 19 November 2011
Friday 13 and Saturday 14 January 2012
Friday 10 and Saturday 11 February 2012
Friday 13 and Saturday 14 April 2012
ABOUT THE ADSIS FOUNDATION
The Adsis Foundation is an NGO that promotes and implements different projects which are aimed at the social integration of the most disadvantaged groups, education and the social advancement of young people, as well as undertaking development cooperation projects. It has a presence in 12 provinces in Spain, some countries in the European Union and in various countries in Latin America.
Adsis Foundation undertakes this work through individual and group processes, based on close relationships, companionship and efficient services. Accordingly, it sets out to especially involve young people, and jointly develops social action, educational and co-operation programmes with other people and organisations.
The Adsis Foundation promotes the following programmes in Asturias:
- Social inclusion programme for prisoners and ex-offenders
- Free time and school support programme with children of immigrants and with those in need of social support from the Ramón Campoamor Primary School (Gijón).
- Youth participation programme Di tu Palabra [Give your Word].
- Development cooperation and fair trade programme
Social Inclusion Programme for Prisoners and Ex-offenders
Its goal is to help prisoners and former prisoners acquire the necessary means to successfully cope with life after release and promote alternatives to incarceration for the achievement of a normalised and decisive social and labour re-insertion into society which reduces levels of exclusion. Its action is carried out on two fronts: in the correctional facility, through interviews and workshops, and outside of the prison, in its Fieldwork activities and Day Centre, and is focused on integration and social incorporation.
The profile of the prisoners and ex-offenders of the Villabona Prison from the Therapeutic Units (UTE) 1, 2 and 3, which is carrying out pioneering work led by Faustino García Zapico on social rehabilitation, corresponds mainly to people with drug dependence problems and serving a sentence for different crimes usually associated with or resulting from the consumption of intoxicating substances. In some cases and provided they meet the necessary conditions, it is possible to finish serving the sentence undergoing therapeutic treatment outside of prison.
This programme currently has the support of seven professionals and a group of 17-20 volunteers involved in its different activities. All of the activities are aimed at facilitating the social and labour integration processes, as well as the personal changes needed to recover from their problems and lead a healthy life in the social environment.
Workshops in Prison
These were started in 1998 and since then workshops on a wide range of activities including yoga, relaxation, socio-cultural and personal development have been held. Currently there are two weekly workshops on Personal Development, held at the UTE1 and UTE2 therapeutic units at Villabona Prison, with 15 inmates and three or four volunteers taking part in each one. The workshops aim to provide the participants with various personal skills and resources to help them cope with a life of freedom with positive habits.
Fieldwork
This is an experience of semi-freedom which has been developed since the year 2000. A group of eighteen inmates from the Therapeutic Units, accompanied by two professionals and between eight and ten volunteers from Adsis Foundation, participate in a range of programmed activities related to employment and education during eight days in the month of July. It is intended to serve as a turning point in the participant’s personal process with a view to recovery and living in freedom, and as a step which favours and opens the way to their re-insertion process. The fieldwork is carried out in an open context, in touch with nature and in collaboration with an Asturian city council.
Insertion and Labour Intermediation
Throughout this year Adsis Foundation has set up two programmes, financed by Obra Social la Caixa [La Caixa Social Work]: Incorpora and Reincorpora [Incorporate and Reincorporate]. The former is a labour intermediation programme which networks with other Asturian bodies. Reincorpora makes it possible for prisoners to take a professional training course and perform community service related to it, following their job-training road map. Both programmes seek to improve the employability of the prisoners being attended to.
Day Centre
This a non-residential resource, located in Gijón, offering treatment to people with addiction to toxic substances and other problems which have led to them having legal problems, including prison sentences. The majority of the people who are attended to come from the Therapeutic Units at Villabona Prison, although requests from other facilities or those made directly to the Day Centre are also tended to.
Its goal is to help them give up the use and abuse of substances (psychological cessation) and make the necessary lifestyle changes that enable them to lead independent lives in the social world. The programme is realised through different therapeutic activities: individual and group, with wide-ranging content: “attitude and values development”, “acquiring habits and adaptability”, “skills” (social, emotional, for self-control)… Great importance is given to areas concerning relationships, culture and being in touch with nature as ways for them to learn and enjoy their leisure and free time in an enriching and healthy way.
