Global Freedom Fellowship aims to innovate justice work world wide

Incarcerated Nation Network launched the Global Freedom Fellowship for former incarcerated leaders from ten different countries.

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16 Freedom Fellows from different countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, El Salvador, Argentina, United State of America, Netherland and the United Kingdom toured Soweto to see and understand the South African heritage side.

The Global Freedom Fellowship is a new programme that focuses on former incarcerated individuals from around the world to come to South Africa and be together, learn from each other, collaborate with each other so that they can be healed as well as be inspired.

According to the Founder and Executive Director of the Incarceration Nations Network, Dr Baz Dreisinger, the mission of the project is to build safer communities through a smarter justice system.

“Our aim is to shift public attitudes towards people who have been incarcerated so that they are afforded the opportunities they should have had in the first place, if not for racial inequality and legacies of systemic racism.

“Globally, incarcerated people are among the most disadvantaged people in society, both when they enter prison and when they’re cycled out of the system.

“This has to change, not only for the benefit of the people involved, but for the benefit of society as a whole,” said Dr Dreisinger

The Global Freedom Fellowship programme will be done annually in South Africa in order to nurture change makers, build transnational solidarity, foster a shared sense of struggle and success, combat stigma against people who have been in prison and, ultimately, instigate innovative justice work worldwide.

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“Part of the programme is to identify the world and different countries of incarceration and actually decreasing the population of mass incarceration around the world through means of advocacy and education, specifically in terms of education, introducing university educational level to incarcerated individuals and having form partnerships between NGOs, correctional facilities and universities,” said Awande Mshotana a former incarcerated Activist from South Africa.

The Incarceration Nations Network and the Global Freedom Fellowships Leaders have implemented a lot of work including the ones all over South Africa, especially in prison education, reintegrated, educational work and legal policy change work.

“We are trying to come up with solutions in terms of resolution of crime for violent offenders, assaults and attempted murder.

“We have had a great deal of success so far because we utilise the justice system principles and practices,” said Shu’aib Abdur-Raheem, a trauma support manager from New York.

Global Freedom Fellowship comes with solutions based on campaigns and movements to identify different challenges from different countries.