Education is a right for all people, and this right must be respected and fulfilled regardless of the context and circumstances in which one finds oneself. This means that being deprived of liberty is not a valid argument for people in that position not to enjoy the opportunity to educate and re-educate themselves under healthy conditions aimed at fostering comprehensive education that allows them to develop life skills.

In our country, education for many is a matter of privilege, a privilege that, unfortunately, many of the women we work with did not benefit from. Adding to this, prison education is diminished by a convoluted and confusing web of stereotypes and myths that are generated daily about incarcerated individuals. Society is responsible for highlighting their perceived lack of worth as people. This results in an education that takes hold of the thoughts of the person deprived of liberty, turning them into mere voiceless objects, objects that have to adjust to a system where they are reminded every day that they must pay for their crime and the harm to society, but they are never taught how, they are not taught to critically reconceptualize their actions, or how to make the most of prison life so that the people who live there achieve their own liberation and become aware of their future life.

Most of the women we work with have barely completed basic education, which is why at La Cana, we seek to help incarcerated women develop skills such as responsibility, creativity, teamwork, emotional intelligence, communication, empowerment, assertiveness, empathy, active listening, respect for rules, etc., through all our programs, thus promoting personal fulfillment and better social performance.

We work to achieve this through evaluation, constant and controlled attendance at psychology workshops and job training, providing them with activities such as yoga, reading, painting, and poetry. We seek for women to transcend and learn to see their situation as an area of opportunity, an opportunity to learn, to grow, to value and improve their quality of life. We seek to teach and transmit that a life away from crime can be built.