Extension course for reading monitors:non-formal education pathways in the Baldomero Prison, Alagoas

Abstract

Access to education in contexts of deprivation of liberty is a fundamental right and an instrument of human and social transformation. However, educational processes aimed at training incarcerated reading monitors are scarce and virtually nonexistent. With this in mind, this article presents a university extension initiative in non-formal education, providing evidence of its importance in strengthening emancipatory educational practices. As part of an initiative by the Research and Extension Group on Education in Prisons (GPEP) at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), in partnership with SERIS, the 16th Criminal Court for the Execution of Sentences (16ª VEP), and CCM, the Reading Monitors Training Extension Course was held at Baldomero Prison in Maceió, Alagoas. The course is linked to the project “Books that Liberate,” an initiative of the Court of Justice of Alagoas that seeks to expand access to reading for people deprived of liberty within the state’s prison system. In this context, the extension course aims to: provide training for monitors to mediate reading activities with other incarcerated individuals at different literacy levels; critically reflect on the pedagogical, social, and political role of reading in the prison context; develop reading practices and strategies, as well as the organization, documentation, preservation, and circulation of literary collections within prison units, with attention to accessibility and the inclusion of people with disabilities; strengthen principles of co-responsibility, respect, and cooperation among project participants; and encourage the production and documentation of reading experiences as a means of recording, preserving memory, and valuing educational action. With a total workload of 60 hours, the course combined workshops, reading circles, guided study sessions, the production of written reports, and the development of action plans, prioritizing dialogical, participatory, and problem-posing methodologies. The course revealed that training goes beyond technical aspects, as it strengthens the protagonism of the monitors, broadens access to reading, and contributes to emancipatory educational practices within the prison context. In this sense, it is concluded that university extension activities, in partnership with institutions and public agencies, recognize incarcerated individuals as active subjects and reaffirm their social commitment and transformative role in spaces historically marked by the denial of rights.