In jail, freedom smells like bread

Managing opportunities and capacities at the Centro de Orientación Femenino de Obrajes in La Paz, Bolivia, CAF's Social Innovation Initiative, the Asociacion Semilla de Vida (Sevida), with the cooperation of Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz, advance in the construction of a social enterprise model that balances productivity and wellbeing, aimed at transforming the idle time of the imprisoned population to a source of employment, strengthen human rights, and rescue the dignity of people who have lost their liberty.  

With the support of the Bolivian Dirección de Régimen Penitenciario (Bolivian Penitentiary System), the project is developed in a jail with a capacity to hold 150 women, but there are currently close to 250 prisoners, many of them with children, and close to 50 underage girls. 

Overcrowding, violence, discrimination, and reoccurrence of crimes are problems that are shared with other Latin American penitentiary centers, problems that do not contribute to the social reinsertion process. Added to this is the personal drama of prisoners who must abandon their homes, pressure for not being able to support the family, and the lack of an employment horizon once they are out of jail. 

"Bread of Freedom" aims to transform the idle resource into a productive one, outperforming the "maquila" traditional model where, through training provided to prisoners in the production of bread and knitting, and the subsequent marketing of these products, income is generated in part for a dignified remuneration for these new workers, as well as for reinvestment in programs dealing with sexual-reproductive health and socio-emotional support for the prisoners and their children, and finally to get additional income for the penitentiary center. 

This vision of project sustainability includes the creation of the Asociacion de Mujeres de COFO, which includes representatives from the imprisoned population as well as from Sevida, the Fundacion Nuevo Norte and Enda, in order to develop a solid marketing structure which, in the case of bread, will include the production and sale to the facility's dining room as an initiative to improve the diet of the imprisoned population, a store to sell the bread on the street, and home delivery. There is a possibility that the bakery may become a reliable supplier of quality bread for other neighboring penitentiary centers. 

With respect to knitting, the distribution and sale of products will be carried out through catalogues, and the families of prisoners will be an essential part of the strategy, in order to generate wellbeing and support their economic sustenance. The participation of university students as part of voluntary services in social programs is also foreseen.