Sixth Work San Fedele
| Established | 1923 |
|---|---|
| Type | Volunteer prison ministry |
| Location | |
Sponsor | San Fedele church, Milan |
Main organ | Dignitas |
| Affiliations | Jesuit, Catholic |
| Website | SixthWork |
Sixth Work San Fedele is a support organisation for prisoners which advocates humane treatment and reform in sentencing. It was established in 1923, became a formal association in 1963 and in 1968 spawned SEAC – Secretariat for Volunteers in Penitentiaries. In 2004 in collaboration with Caritas Ambrosiana[1] it reached an agreement with the local prison authority to offer multiple services to those held in prison or under house arrest.[2] In 2012 its magazine on incarceration policies, Dignitas, went digital.[3] On the 90th anniversary of Sixth Work in 2013, San Fedele organized the conference "More security, more gratuity, less imprisonment." [4] Sixth Work engages not only prisoners and their families but also prison staff, social workers, and lawyers, and watches sentencing.[5]
Programs
Statistics are mostly from the 2013 annual report.
- Training courses. These drew 106 participants and led to placement of 45 new volunteers. Second level training for mentors was also offered.[6]
- Volunteers. San Vittore Prison: 48 for 10,000 service hours; Opera prison: 13 active volunteers dedicating 9,000 hours within and outside of prison; Bollate prison: 29 volunteers; San Paolo detention ward: one volunteer, about 450 contacts;
- Spiritual enrichment opportunities for volunteers, former clients, and their families included retreat days in March, May, and October, monthly Mass, and weekly prayer sessions.
- Activities within prisons include greeting newcomers and responding to requests for visits; small amounts of financial help; assisting with business like pensions, license renewal, family matters, and book loans; providing items of clothing, prescription glasses, medicine, newspapers; hosting parties; conducting prayer and reflection groups; showing films; literacy course for foreign prisoners; establishing contact with family members; teaching basketball to the young; moral support with a view to reintegration into society; join detainees for religious services and plays; organize reading and discussion groups; courses in yoga; purchase of materials for hobbies (painting, woodwork, leatherwork, plaster).[7]
- At the reception center for detained youth 21 volunteers meet the two or three youth that pass through it each night. In 2014 48 young males were being held at the detention center in Milan.[8]
- Assistance to those in home detention. This involved several volunteers working with 12 cases.
- Sixth Work maintains one staff member and has four volunteers at its information, counselling, and communications hub for all parties involved with the detainees. It also handles job training and placement and help with legal matters. Ongoing subsidies for a great variety of needs are extended to about 200 recipients, including credit and subsidies for college attendance.[9]
- Sixth Work also helps with those on probation to social services, day-release, parole, and home detention, to assist their reintegration into society, maintaining an apartment for this purpose.[10] It also maintains two apartments, in Milan and Novate Milanese, to accommodate select persons on release.[11][12]
- Dignitas has been published online by Sixth Opera San Fedele since 2013, focused especially on issues of justice and penalties.[13] Sixth Work also raises these issues at its workshops, conferences, book presentations, and seminars.[14]
- Sixth Work collaborates with others who provide housing and employment: "Do With" in partnership with municipalities like Novate Milanese; Bandi City's TRIO program; peer mediation in Bollate prison, to reconciliation among female inmates, educators, and prison officers; Trattamentali[15] integration programs funded in part by the Foundation Lambriana of the Milan Diocese,[16] making available two apartments.[17]
References
- ↑ Ambrosiana. 22 April 2016.
- ↑ U.EPE. Accessed 21 April 2016.
- ↑ Dignitas. Accessed 21 April 2016.
- ↑ Sixth Work. Accessed 21 April 2016.
- ↑ Activities. Accessed 21 April 2016.
- ↑ Volunteer training. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ San Vittore. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Youth. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Service desk. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Outside. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Alternative. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Permission. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Online. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Workshops. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Trattamentali. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Lambriana. Accessed 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Collaboration. Accessed 22 April 2016.
Coordinates: 45°27′59.21″N 9°11′29.31″E / 45.4664472°N 9.1914750°E
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