More than giving recuperation of degradated areas on the Dracena region, the project intends to involve the prisioners which are undergoing capacitation activities and to generate jobs and income

The lack of intruments that allows the resocialization of prisioners does not come from today. But nowadays, due to the crisis expansion in the brazilian prison system, this fact became much more clear. The society realized that only keep the offenders in jail is not enough to modify thei behavior; it have to reintegrate to the society.


With the objective to make make this real - a project that reachs both the environemtal area and the social inclusion, the IBFLORESTAS join the Regional Sugar and Alcohol Usines, Compact Penitentiary of Dracena, Municipal Prefecture of Dracena and the Brazilian Institute of Forests of Dracena to elaborate the Environmental and Social Project - Comapct Penitentiary of Dracena.

This project intends to ally the social reintegration of the prisioners,through working, encorauging the trees planting, in all of the social segments. It can also overcome the lack of profissional qualification and the low level of study of the prisioners, including them in complementary activities, capable of giving professional knowledge and a new perspective of life. Moreover, this planning wants to support the Seeds of Work Project, developed by IBFLORESTAS, in order to generate jobs and income through the incentive to seeds collection.

According to Fernando dos Santos Martins, environmental engineer of the Dracena's Sugar and Alcohol Usine, located in the Dracena - SP, the project comes to meet the environmental needs of the regions and of the signatories partners of this project, providing a perfect environment, by practical activities that can lead to a resocialization of the Compact Dracena Penitentiary prisioners."More than that, big goals will be reached in forest recuperation of the ciliary and legal reservation areas on small and large properties and there will be a ordered increase in the urban afforestation of the Dracena city.

For Lupércio Chagas Neto, director of the environment secretariat of the Dracena prefecture, the project is very good to occupy the prisioners' minds."By the activities, their attention is detoured from the will of scaping", he says. For him, there is a lack of environmental projects on the region and the secretariat has a very good expectation about the project.

The idea is to implant a native seedling nursery inside the Dracena's prison. The labor force will the own prisioners that will recieve technical training and capacitation to do these activities. The initiative and the investment are results of a partnerchip between the Regional Sugar and Alcohol Usines, Compact Penitentiary of Dracena, Municipal Prefecture of Dracena and the Brazilian Institute of Forests.

Celio Rejani, prefect of Dracena, affirms that the prefecture make available, for the project, a framework that already exists on the agriculture and environment secretariat of the Dracena prefecture about the seedling production,as a supporting location in the project logistics. He says that the prefecture is available to also help in any form it's needed to the area expansion, on which the seedlings nursery sctructure will be implanted, surrounding the Compact Penitentiary of Dracena.

According to the prefect, the purpose of a prison unit is to teach, not only punishing the offender. "The need to environmental education fits within this aim, which is essential to any person in the current days", he declares.

For Rejani, when the prisioner get freedom, he feels the difficulty of re-enter on the labor market, and the chances to commit a crime again is high. According to the prefect, the job opportunity is a right of the citizens, even without their freedom. It's used also to decrease the time in jail setence and have an opportunity to be qualified to the labor market. We understand that, through this project, we bring their re-insertion on the social life", he stresses.

The Brazilian Institute of Forests will be the director and the coordinator of this Project, giving all the needed technical support to the implementation and maintenance of the forest nursery, that will count on a a production of approximately 1.7 million seedlings per year. Some of these seedlings will be distributed among the financier usines, which can start their projects of restoration of riparian vegetation

The integrated struggle in conservation and restoration of the Atlantic forest is the main motivator for the inclusion of IBFLORESTAS on this project. Estimating the possibility of restoring 2685 ha approximately, the project will try to produce, through its 3 years of implementation, more than 5 million of native seedlings.

The IBFLORESTAS see this project not just as a promotion tool linked to seedlings production, but also used to social inclusion and difusion of innovating, environmental ideas.

For Nestor Pereira Colete Junior, general director of the Agente Aparecido De Pieri penitentiary in Dracena - SP, the environmental project can bring a lot of benefits to the prisioners. It can happen because, through this, they will be capacitated to work in this environmental area, and later they will be able to a job related to that area. "Moreover, there is also the objective to call these prisioners as nursery workers, even recieving certificates of courses in the area", he notes.

He also says that there is a good expectation about the execution of the project. The penitentiary director declares that the Dracena's region is mostly composed by sugar cane usines, and bringing this project can stimulate all the society to have environmental conscience.


The Dracena's Environmental Project will be an exemple to other enterprises, from this segment or not, to invest on a project that spreads not just preservationists ideas,but that also promotes social ideals.