UAB Secretary General Esther Zapater affirmed that "legitimacy and fair treatment are key for people to accept the rules and reintegrate into society" at the opening of the Scientific and practical conferences on reintegration in Barcelona. The event is co-organised by the Research Group on Crime Desistance and Reintegration Policies of the UAB.
Secretary General Zapater recovered the central idea of the speech given by criminologist Anthony Bottoms when he was invested as an honorary doctor by the UAB in 2022. According to the secretary general, the spirit of the conference is aligned with the philosophy set out by Bottoms in a field that has "a great social impact" and that "is often strongly marked by controversies and insufficiently informed debates". She praised the results of the research project De la presó a la comunitat [From Prison to Community], coordinated by lecturers Josep Cid (UAB) and Antonio Andrés Pueyo (UB) and funded by RecerCaixa, and she recalled the involvement of the Fundació Autònoma Solidària through its solidarity programmes, recalling that "the university, from a clear vocation of service, has the mission of training responsible, critical, participatory, supportive citizens who are committed to society".
Domingo Estepa, general director of Penitentiary Affairs of the Government of Catalonia, also spoke at the inauguration, stating that reintegration "will be more successful if we manage to ensure that the process is piloted not only by the penitentiary authorities but by the entire community", emphasising the importance of the involvement of the "third sector" in particular. Andrea Giménez-Salinas, director of the Foundation for Applied Research in Crime and Security (FIADYS), stated that "we need scientific knowledge to transform reality and that is why the Foundation supports initiatives with social impact from applied research". Catalina Droppelmann, academic director of the UC Justice and Society Centre of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, wanted to recognise the "leadership" of Professor Cid in this academic field, describing him as an "intellectual reference and a very generous collaborator" committed to the link between academia and public policies.
From Prison to Community
The event continued with two round tables on support for people under the open regime, and with the presentation of the final research report of the project From Prison to Community, as well as a subsequent debate on the role of mentoring in prison reintegration. On days 2 and 3, the conference will move to the main hall and boardroom, respectively, of the UAB Faculty of Law. The programme will include a meeting on crime and criminal justice in Chile and Spain, a conference by Shadd Maruna, professor of criminology at the University of Liverpool, and a meeting between prison administrations to discuss challenges in rsocial eintegration.
These conferences aim to be a space for transmitting research on criminal desistance and social reintegration and for making visible policies and practices aimed at social reintegration. The meeting also aims to generate a space for reflection and debate on the challenges faced by the penitentiary system and reintegration. It is aimed at professionals from prison administrations and juvenile justice, professionals from foundations and third sector entities working in the field of social reintegration, and researchers interested in desistance and reintegration. The conferences are also organised within the research project Tercer grado, libertad condicional y reinserción [Third Degree, Conditional Release and Reintegration], funded by the Spanish Research Agency (PID2022-140171NB-I00).
