As Victor Hugo said: “He who opens a school door, closes a prison”. It is for this reason that the central prison of Port-Gentil decided, as in previous years, to once again present candidates for the end-of-year exams. They are a total of twenty (20) incarcerated candidates, including 01 who goes to the attack of the baccalaureate, 15 for the Brevet d’études du premier cycle (BEPC) and 04 on behalf of the Certificate of primary studies (CEP). An initiative promoted by the high authorities, aimed at the reintegration of detainees after their prison sentence.
However, concerned and guarantor of the security of the detainees of the prison of Port-Gentil, the prison authorities hope that an examination center will be granted to the remand center, in order to avoid multiple displacements, a rather important logistics agents, as well as stigmatization during the time of trials.
“It is our wish that they can have an examination center for only this period of the tests, as is the case for example in Libreville, where the detainees compose in detention. We had written to the DAP, now we are patiently patient”, said the head of the central prison of Port-Gentil.
The detainees who are candidates for the various classes benefit from an accelerated follow-up, thanks in particular to the courses in mathematics, French, English, Spanish and many others that the teachers of high schools and colleges come to give every day.
Last year, we remember that the prison environment of the economic capital, by presenting its detainees on behalf of the BEPEC session 2022, had obtained a success rate of 62.5%. A beautiful harvest which allowed him to continue in this momentum, in order to participate in the professional and social reintegration of prisoners. Many of them hope for a remission, after obtaining these diplomas.
The major ambition for most of these “conscious prisoners” is to try to enter the job market as quickly as possible. Obtaining a degree in custody has been found to significantly decrease recidivism rates.
Vincent Ranozinault
