The wall can be built of bricks and cement or of social prejudice and despair. and Soto del Real Municipal Library (located about 50 kilometers from Madrid) He sets out to destroy them both with a weapon that is as precise as it is powerful: the book.
Since 2018, “Books That Jump Walls” programcreated by Librarian Juan Sobrino-I converted Madrid V Prison Centre Transforming its halls and courtyards into stages of social integration and cultural growth.
Sobrino, convinced that the library must go beyond its walls, explained to Berfil Córdoba the origin of the expansion of the library: “We work in two senses. On the one hand, we program a series of activities to attract the public to the library, but after that, this library works on extension activities, that is, the transfer of books and culture outside the walls of the library.”
Sobrino says the focus is on the most vulnerable groups, who have difficulty accessing culture.
Seed: Reading and Creativity Club
Cooperate with Prison centerWhich includes about 1,400 men (the female population was transferred in 2020), created from the first project: the mixed reading club. “The simplest thing at first is to create a club made up of inmates from the prison center and people from outside who belong to the traditional reading clubs of the library. The methodology is the same as any other club, there is time for reading and then we have a meeting between the inmates and people from outside to talk about the book,” explains Sobrino, who works as coordinator.
This initiative was only the tip of the spear since it was under an umbrella “Books that jump walls”Various types of workshops were held: from a workshop on literary creativity, poetry and drama to a workshop on kites decorated with drawings and phrases. “It was an amazing moment when we sent them flying,” Sobrino recalls. “Many said they forgot where they were for a moment.”
In addition, poetry evenings, plays, concerts and even batucadas were scheduled that toured the various prison units.
From a reading festival to family stories
He created the software in formats like Reading Festivaloriginated in the United States, which consists of gathering several people to read their own book in the same environment. “The goal of the library is to some extent to transform something intrinsically individual, such as the act of reading, into a social and shared reality,” Sobrino analyses. The activity gathered about 100 people (about 70 internal and about twenty external people)becoming the first of its kind in the world in a correctional center.
Another project is Stories that revolve lifedesigned in 2023 for guests who have no contact with their children due to geographic distance or personal choice (some prefer their children to think they are “working abroad”). So, based on the children’s books, parents participate in a play-reading workshop with oral narrators, then record a video reading the story, adding illustrations and personal dedications to their families. “We’ve reached about 20 kids with this project,” says the librarian.
Correspondence and the power of the “horizon”
Two recent projects continue to deepen contact with the outside: correspondence without notice of receipt, and the exchange of anonymous letters (using a pseudonym) between prisoners (students of Ceiba Yucatan, Prison School) and various groups from the outside: institutes and universities (such as Complutense and Camilo José Cela), homeless shelters and dormitories.
“The goal is to put yourself in the other’s shoes. External participants write to someone they know is deprived of liberty, and in the next correspondence, they receive a personal message to respond, creating a link,” Sobrino explains.
The other project is building bridges, tearing down walls, and cultural exchange with ArgentinaIn cooperation with the event “Read Iberia America Read” Based on Pan Medio’s article and book Federico Garcia Lorca. This initiative involved an exchange of letters between inmates from Soto del Real and Buenos Aires based on a workshop supervised by Valdemar Cubilla, a former Argentine prisoner who built a library in his unit and then a popular library in his neighborhood (La Carcova).
The artistic culmination of the initiative has been achieved previously Urban Art Collection Boa Mistura (Madrid) Who captured a word chosen by the inmates on the courtyard wall: horizon. “If you see it, it looks like there’s a horizon behind this wall, and you can see something,” Sobrino says.
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Reading with my best friend and the human library
Other projects that show the creativity of the program are Reading workshop with my best friendan initiative that uses dogs from Canine Etiquette Societytrained to read. The idea, which has already worked well with children, has been transferred to adult inmates. “The dog doesn’t judge you if you make a mistake or get confused, which makes reading a fun activity,” Sobrino says.
For her part, Human Librarycreated in 2021, proposes that inmates become living “books” with labels representing themes and social biases (drug addict, transgender, etc.). Thus, “readers” have 10- to 20-minute conversations with the “book author,” in order to generate empathy and learn about themselves within diversity.
Normalization and integration
One of the most ambitious goals is to break down the physical and symbolic barrier of the centre. In this sense, Sobrino seeks to make the prison hall a cultural space open to citizens. “The idea is that, through logical security measures, tickets are offered to the public from outside as a means of combating social prejudices that arise from the outside, making culture a factor of social integration.”Pointing.
Sobrino’s work is based on the conviction that the prison system must seek salvation: “The idea of the prison system is that people who enter do not visit the prison center again. I believe that it is culture that allows you to create new perspectives, to open your horizons.”