Virginia Varela Dubra

By changing attitudes among police, judges, prison wardens, and others in the criminal enforcement system–and introducing low-cost solutions that ease reentry for young inmates after their release–Virginia Varela is dramatically reducing recidivism among Uruguay's first-time offenders.

Having seen that a few carefully chosen interventions can determine whether a newly released inmate resumes a life of criminal behavior or not, Virginia is introducing low-cost services that help young prisoners who have been jailed for comparatively brief terms get back on their feet after their release. Her work starts in the prison, where she provides counseling, private tutoring in select subjects, and off-site vocational training. More importantly, she makes sure that these young inmates have a place to go and an opportunity to forge a new life after their release. To do this, she has convinced businesses to employ former inmates and arrange three-month mentorships that commence from the time of hire to provide encouragement and training during the critical adjustment period. Having proven the effectiveness of her approach in Montevideo's largest juvenile detention center, Virginia is increasing her organization to include eight additional prisons in Uruguay, with plans to use her existing network to spread elements of her work throughout Latin America.

Most young people arrested in Uruguay fit a similar profile: they come from poor, dysfunctional, or abusive families; they have suffered from social isolation and exclusion and have little understanding of their rights; and they lack labor skills as a result of having dropped out of school. For many, their criminal behavior is often linked to survival strategies. With increasing rates of crime creating a growing sense of insecurity among the mainstream public in Uruguay, judges are issuing longer and longer sentences. As a result of the stiffer punishments, jails are overcrowded; Colonia Berro, Montevideo's main detention center, is home to 700 inmates ages 15 to 23–three times the number permitted by building codes. With resources simply strained to house the new influx of inmates, there are few funds left to train the ill-equipped staff to handle prisoners, let alone develop programs to rehabilitate and prepare the criminals for life after prison. Already prone to self-doubt and low self-esteem, the young inmates emerge from jail with no opportunities or clear next steps, in many cases resuming the pattern of criminal behavior that landed them in the jail in the first place. The cycle of repeated incarceration not only creates a high social cost in terms of crime, but also takes a financial toll, as scarce funds are routed away from important social initiatives to support the criminal justice system.

Based on her years of working inside youth detention centers providing counseling, training, and job skills to young people, Virginia designed a comprehensive strategy to break the cycle for young people, primarily first-time offenders, sentenced to comparatively short jail times.
Virginia's approach begins in prison. When Virginia and her team first start working with a teenager, they analyze every dimension of his life and initiate a process in which he is encouraged to reconsider his past history, to assume responsibility for having committed a crime, and to start planning for his future. On a track parallel to this counseling, the young inmate attends private or government training courses where he learns such skills as ironworks, carpentry, or pastry making, and at the same time socially interacts with young people who are not in prison. To ensure a smoother transition from prison to the outside world, the young prisoners then join a tutoring program, in which each youngster voluntarily agrees to participate. After making a formal agreement with his tutor, the two design a nine-month training program that is convenient for the teenager and that feeds directly into placing him in a job after his release. Once out of jail, Virginia not only works with employers to ensure that the former inmates have jobs, but also makes sure that each young person has a mentor to guide them through the transition process.
To secure the resources necessary to run the project, Virginia is constantly fuelling strategic partnerships with different sectors of society. Currently, the National Youth Institute (INAME) pays the salary of six teachers and three tutors; government centers provide high quality, outside training for inmates; the Pedagogic Center provides skilled professionals. She has also attracted support from companies, who employ former inmates in positions for which she arranges an initial three-month mentoring project, and she is trying to engage the government to employ former prisoners as well.
As Virginia realizes that resources alone will not guarantee her model's sustainability if the attitudes of professionals in the criminal justice system are focused on punishment rather than rehabilitation, she is working to introduce her new vision to key actors like the prison staff, the judicial authorities, and the police. Virginia knows she must also focus on guards and other prison staff who have daily contact with prisoners. In order to integrate them into the program, enhance the dignity of their job, and increase their self-esteem, Virginia is designing training tools to help them interact with inmates in ways that are humane yet firm. In terms of the judicial powers, she is developing legislative update activities, including best practices in cases of youth law offenders that are aimed at generating awareness among judges, district attorneys, and defenders who handle cases involving juvenile offenders. To change behaviors among the police–the first public officer a young criminal meets–Virginia is piloting community projects that foster interaction between youth groups and the neighborhood police officer.
Virginia's methodology has proven highly effective in her pilot project in Montevideo's largest juvenile detention center. While keeping an inmate in detention costs Uruguay $1,000 per month, Virginia's cost per inmate is 57.5 percent, and her program significantly reduces the recidivism among those who participate. As a result of this success, her model has attracted the support of INAME and numerous regional and international funding sources, who are helping spread her methodology to eight more detention centers in Montevideo. To reach beyond the urban, male demographic of her pilot, Virginia is negotiating with INAME to develop parole programs in Uruguay's rural districts and has plans to start working with female inmates 18 to 24. Having already begun working with prisoner groups to replicate her model in Córdoba, Argentina, Virginia plans to extend her model to other regions in Latin America through Partners of the Americas, an international organization of which she is an active member.

Virginia's commitment to the social development of young people began in secondary school with a project she started for teenagers who were awaiting trial in criminal courts. In addition to starting a community health project in a poor district of Montevideo as an adolescent, Virginia later celebrated the end of dictatorship by strengthening a student union in university. In the early years of Uruguay's democracy, Virginia made a significant contribution to launching the University Research and Education Committee to reform the country's education system. In 1986, while working with a center for criminal youth, Virginia observed that tough, fearless gang members became vulnerable and shy when she spent time with them individually. She soon started working in the Asociación Foro Juvenil (Youth Forum Association), a progressive organization leading the introduction of innovative approaches to youth issues that has had a strong influence in shaping public policies. Virginia has led the Foro since 1993.
In response to public accusations of abuse inside prisons and the increasing attention to high suicide rates among inmates during the early 1990s, the government turned to citizen-led organizations to monitor prisons. It was during this time that Virginia saw what life was like inside jails and decided to begin working with imprisoned teenagers. In 1995, in partnership with two other NGOs, she funded the Nexo Program to provide vocational training and psychological assistance to young people in jails. The initiative was strongly opposed by the majority of NGOs working in youth issues, because her efforts were seen as condoning the imprisonment of minors. Not only was the program highly successful in rehabilitating the youth, but it also gave Virginia skills that would be valuable in building her future program and led to her being widely recognized in the field.