Yellow Ribbon Run, the RunCzech initiative to draw attention to the problem of the reintegration of ex-cons into the world of work
“I train three times a week, running around a building. It is a 250-metre circuit, and to complete my 10 km of my training I have to go round it forty times”. The account, provided with mathematical precision, and evident satisfaction, is given by Vladimir, thirty years old, from Brno, but incarcerated in Kuřim Prison, where he is serving a sentence of several years for an attempted scam.
We met him in Prague, at the headquarters of RunCzech, where he was accompanied to attend the press presentation of the Yellow Ribbon Run, the new project that will be realized this year as part of the RunCzech Prague Marathon, on 8 May.
Next to him, are also Lenka, Sandra and Pamela who came to Prague for the occasion from the prison in Světlá nad Sázavou, where they trained for a few weeks using an internal route of 350 metres, between the boundary wall and wire mesh.
Lenka, aged 35, practiced sport as a girl, before slipping into the tunnel of addiction, drug dealing, and finally prison. She has already served a quarter of the sentence and will be released in a year and a half, but in the meantime the race has already changed her life. “It is my new drug”, she smiles. Much the same situation, and the same feelings experienced by her two training companions: Sandra, who ended up in jail for scams, and Pamela, a twenty-year-old, who was convicted for a robbery. All three thank their governess, Mrs. Zuzana Matlachová, who dragged them on this adventure.
Then there are Milan and Petr, who left the prison experience behind themselves a while ago, and they managed to get a new life, first by finding a job, then succeeding in their spare time to practice sport and to prepare for the appointment with the Prague Marathon.
All of them, on May 8, will participate in the marathon by running in the relay. The “yellow ribbon” teams, as announced, will be formed by prisoners, former prisoners, police and prison staff, owners, or managers of large companies willing to welcome people leaving prison among its employees.
The purpose of the Yellow Ribbon Run project, which sees the Světlá nad Sázavou Prison, the Business Leaders Forum and the RunCzech among its organizers, is aimed precisely at raising public awareness on the issue of the reintegration of former prisoners into employment. The problem is clearly not only one concerning this country, but it is estimated that in the Czech Republic, 70% of the people who come out of prison are destined not to find employment, and this is one of the main factors of the high recidivism. The initiative is also designed to break the wall of prejudice, often so difficult to overcome, which is created around those who try to restart their lives after paying their debt to society.
Yellow Ribbon Run, organized this year for the first time in the Czech Republic and Europe, comes from Singapore, where after 11 years thousands of job opportunities were created for ex-convicts. In Asian cities, the government has also launched an annual campaign of yellow ribbons to promote the need to offer former prisoners a second chance. It is normal for the citizens to pin the symbolic ribbon onto their shirt for the occasion, to show their solidarity for those who seek to rebuild their lives.
“RunCzech wants to promote certain values, and Yellow Ribbon Run is one of these. It is very important that those who have made mistakes and have paid their debt, have a chance to reintegrate into society in a dignified manner”, stressed Carlo Capalbo, the president of RunCzech.
by Giovanni Usai
