THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN THE CONTEXT OF CONFINEMENT IN PARAGUAY IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze the right to education of people in the context of confinement within the framework of the National Constitution of Paraguay. Education is a fundamental right of every person, guaranteed and recognized in national and international instruments. The problem is generated with the vulnerable social sector, such as people in confinement who are more prone to exclusion. It is based on the premise of the constitutional principle of the right to education, without discrimination, although it is the State that must regulate and protect compliance with this principle, since one of the main objectives of the sentence is the readaptation of the convicted person, and what better way to do this than through education. The present research was of a bibliographic, qualitative type that integrated relevant theoretical events with the purpose of knowing and analyzing the perception and the social reality studied, through exhaustive reading in diverse sources and compilation of official materials of the different institutions in charge, yielding the following results: The distribution of the population, according to the judicial district, indicates that most of the persons deprived of liberty settle their cases in the Central Department, 31%; and in the Capital, 24.2%. Out of a total of 11,852 valid cases obtained for this variable, 70.8% of the population studied is in pretrial detention, and 29.2% is under sentence. A total of 86.8% of the population studied belonged to the young (18 to 29 years) and young adult (30 to 45 years) age groups. The most frequent crimes attributed to men were: aggravated robbery (23.50%); intentional homicide (16.05%); violation of the drug law (15.52%) and aggravated robbery (9.36). Also noteworthy are: sexual abuse of children (7.11%); and domestic violence (6.72%). Persons deprived of liberty beneficiaries of the reinsertion programs period 2016 -2019 amount to 4,152 (four thousand one hundred and fifty-two), which represents approximately 26.4% of 15,739 as of May 2019, i.e., it is a tiny amount compared to the total population. Then it can be concluded that evidently the state policies of education for persons deprived of liberty are insufficient and limited, there is a failure to comply with the law. Although progress has been made in the area of education in prisons, it is necessary to consider the reconstruction of a comprehensive program that can cover all levels through partnerships between public and private institutions in order to effectively achieve accessibility to education for people in prison.