Hospital de día: departamento de oncología

As indicated above, though there are still a lot of problems, improvements are observed in the way prisons are administered since the incumbent government took power when compared to the previous systems. For instance, the current government seems concerned about issues of democracy, participation, justice, equality, peace, human rights and ethnic rights (Wondimu, 2008:43). In line with this, the report by International Labour Organization about the current prison condition in Ethiopia reads:

Some twenty-two years have passed since policies and strategies have been implemented enabling convicts remanded to prison following conviction by a court of law to give back to the community they harmed as well as to make them productive citizens by rehabilitating them psychologically and providing them with different academic and vocational training. It has been some time now since prisoners began to appreciate that prisons are no longer the hell they used to be

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but are in fact centres of change where they endeavour to engage in development (International Labour Organization [ILO]s.a:4).

Among the indicators which show the commitment of the government to such issues is the prison reform. Though the role of prisons was more focused on punishing people than on rehabilitation programmes prior to the issuance of the proclamation in 2003, significant positive changes were achieved then after. In 2003 Proclamation 365/2003 was issued and replaced Prison Proclamation 45/1944 (CILC 2005:110; Gulilat 2012:52). Among the reforms considered in the newly issued proclamation, one was the rehabilitation and issuance of the Federal Prison Commission. As part of this reform, different offices were organised (from Federal to the lower level) to ensure the well- being of prisoners. In relation to prison education, one of the responsibilities of this Commission is to "provide prisoners with academic education, vocational training, social work and counselling services to facilitate their post-release rehabilitation and respect for the law" (FDRE 2003:7). In the same token, Recommendation number 19 on the Penitentiary System of Ethiopia by the Centre for International Legal Cooperation (2005:271) suggests, each and every one of the inmates should be given the right to basic education and vocational training making those who need basic literacy skills a priority. Later on, the Ethiopian Government issued a declaration on the treatment of federal prisoners. In Article 23 of the Regulation on Treatment of Federal Detainees No. 138/2007 and regional regulations, it was stated that prisoners have the right to academic and different vocational training (EHRC 2012:78).

Moreover, to address international commitments like EFA and MDGs and to provide education for all, the current government has made a tremendous effort with regard to equity, access, and quality issues in the education system of the country. Among these commitments shown are the issuance of the new federal constitution (FDRE 1995) and the New Education and Training Policy (MoE 1994) which guaranteed better conditions for all citizens including inmates.

Part of this development, the Constitution of Ethiopia (FDRE 1995:15) recognises education as one of the fundamental rights of citizens. For instance, Article 21(1) of the constitution states that “all persons held in custody and imprisoned upon conviction and

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sentencing have the right to get treatments that respect their human dignity”. And, Article 41 (3 & 4) further offers Ethiopian nationals to get equal access to publicly funded social services (FDRE 1995:24).

In addition, Ethiopian policies are directed to poverty alleviation to bring about sustainable development and become a middle-income country in the coming ten years (MoE 2010:14; Ministry of Finances and Economic Development [MoFED] 2010:34). This goal of becoming a middle-income country can only be achieved basically through the provision of education for all citizens, including inmates. Besides, Ethiopia is a signatory to international laws and guaranteed prisoners' rights through its constitution and policies and strategies. As to the ILO‟s report (s.a:31), prisoners in Ethiopian correctional institutions, among others, have the right to access capacity building services, counselling, skills training, business development services and the right to engage in income generating activities.

As a result of the policies and strategies, impressive outcomes are being observed in some of the correctional institutions of Ethiopia. For instance, in one of the regions of Ethiopia, Tigray, the intervention to bring about prisoners' rehabilitation has been observed changing the behaviour of inmates and benefiting the correctional centres, the community and the region at large. The report further showed that the prisoners are rejoining the society with new skills and a greater chance of employability. This report further noted that the provision of a better chance for inmates to integrate with the community helped the inmates lead a peaceful and productive life after prison which in turn reduces crime and the number of inmates returning to prison (ILO s.a:12).

This is true only in few prisons because in most others there is still a gap between what is stated in the constitution and policy, and what is being implemented. For instance, in the report made by the Centre for International Legal Cooperation (CILC 2005:164) based on the baseline study of the Ethiopian Justice System, it was made clear that the status of prisons in Ethiopia is below the international standards. Among others, the report revealed that problems Ethiopian prisons are facing include lack of training centres for both administrators and inmates, lack of training materials, aids and reference books and materials for education, fields for recreation and sports.

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Regarding the physical conditions of prisons including education facilities, it was reported that in some instances they were "…intolerable" (CILC 2005:196). Researches (cf. Gulilat 2012; Tadesse 2011) conducted in prisons of Ethiopia attest to this. In his study, Tadesse (2011:177) also showed that the handling of prisoners and services provided in some selected prisons of Oromia National Regional state are below the standards except Dippo centre of technical and vocational training for prisoners. This study found that these prisons are generally found to be poor in terms of accommodation, clothing and bedding, personal hygiene, medical care, sport and exercise, libraries and books, work, education and training, separation of categories and compliant handling procedures. Similarly, a study conducted in the federal prison of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, found the overcrowding, inadequate or inappropriate food, poor sanitation, inadequate medical services and a lack of recreation or educational facilities as challenges facing these institutions(Gulilat 2012:89). This researcher concluded that all these conditions of the prisons in Addis Ababa are not in line with the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Articles 18 and 21 of the Ethiopian constitution as well as Article 10 and 7 of ICCPR (Gulilat 2012:89). This study further revealed that the education and training programmes which are available are not given regularly, females do not take part in the programme and the trainers are not equipped enough to provide valuable training to inmates (Gulilat 2012:95).

In most African countries, it is not easy to find data on the state of imprisonment and the conditions there which basically is due to "…institutional incapacity…" (UNODC 2005:9). The same is true in Ethiopia. Except for the presence of few policy related documents on how to handle prisoners, it is hard to find studies and other documents showing the state of prison and prisoners in Ethiopia. This, in fact, could be taken as a problem and opportunity to this study. The limited presence of such relevant documents needs an investigation, like the current study, that clearly shows the status and development of prison education in Ethiopia. On the other hand, conducting a study in the face of such problems could also be seen as a challenge as it would be difficult to start from the scratch without studies that can be traced and used as a base for further investigation.

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The researcher of this study believes that if the country wants to achieve international commitments like the MDGs or the upcoming goals envisaged for post 2015 and achieving its own plan of becoming a middle-income country, all citizens should get an opportunity to education not only because it is their right but it helps the country to bring about the desired development in all aspects and in sustaining the development achieved so far. Focusing on only some portions of the society and their problems may be easier to address in a short period of time but will not guarantee full-fledged development in a sustainable way. Hence, equal chance should be given to all citizens, including prisoners.

3.5. SUMMARY

The intent of this chapter was to show the trend of prison education in the Ethiopian context. In this chapter, the short history of the modern prison system in Ethiopia coupled with the lack of researches conducted in this field, negatively affected discussion on specific issues to show the trends of the provision of correctional education. This is because the study could only review related policy documents and a couple of studies conducted on the issue. From this, it is could be concluded that prison education in Ethiopia is at its infancy stage compared to what literature show at international level as discussed in chapter two. Yet from the limited literature reviewed, it was evident that education of prisoners is irregular, disorganised and limited in scope; hence, demands a serious commitment of concerned bodies and further deliberations. The next chapter deals with the methodology followed by the study. It sets out by discussing constructivist paradigm as theoretical framework followed by explanations of research strategy and approach. Then it discusses the population, sample and sampling techniques, the methods of data collection and the procedures followed in collecting the data as well as the techniques of data analyses. The chapter also tries to reveal strategies to ensure validity and reliability and ethical issues to be considered in conducting the research.

76 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.1. INTRODUCTION

In the previous two chapters, an attempt is made to review and present the existing literature on prison education in order to have a better understanding of the issue and answer two research questions (1 and 2). While chapter two is about the trends and practices of prison education at an international level, the third chapter dealt with the historical background and practices of prison education in Ethiopia. The review of literature based on theoretical and practical issues of prison education serves as a point of reference in this investigation into the practice of prison education in Ethiopia.

The current chapter describes the overall research processes passed through to answer the research questions. Accordingly, it discusses the design of the study, which informed this study and the rationale for choosing it. It also provides a detailed description of the research setting, the sampling of participants, and the methods and process of data collection. The method used to analyse the data collected, mechanisms to show the credibility of the study and the ethical issues considered in the research process are also discussed in detail. The chapter winds up by summarizing the main issues discussed within it.