RTL Group | Paris, 04/14/2016

Writing behind Bars

Convicted criminals are literally and intentionally excluded from society during their imprisonment. After release, however, all efforts focus on their resocialization. Since its foundation in January 2010, Fondation M6 has committed itself to this goal. Now, it is once again causing a sensation with an unusual campaign aimed at the resocialization of those behind bars: until 30 June 2016, Fondation M6 and several partners are running the writing contest "Au-delà des lignes", the first of its kind in French prisons.

This background of the campaign is as simple as it is understandable: 35 percent of the inmates in France’s prisons have severe reading and writing deficiencies, 11 percent are considered illiterate. At the same time, illiteracy is one of the largest obstacles for successful resocialization and one of the most frequent reasons for the recurrence of criminal offenses. To prevent this from happening, the Education Nationale has installed writing studios in twelve French prisons, aiming to help women, men and minors to (re-)discover the pleasure of reading.

Presenter Nathalie Renoux as patron

These studios now form the backbone of the writing contest jointly organized by Fondation M6 and Educations Nationales. The participants of the writing studios are called to write texts and present them to a jury of 16 experts consisting of representatives of the participating institutions and organizations and of authors, literary critics, publishers, editors and journalists. Among them, representing M6, is Nathalie Renoux, the presenter and patron of the foundation.The members of the jury will personally meet the participants of the contest and present the main prizes in four different categories on 30 June in the Sequedin prison. Part of the prize is the guarantee that the winners will continue to receive help with their writing after they are released from prison.