Creating a better future

In México, 1 out of 4 people that are released from penitentiary institutions go back to prison within the next 2 years. This high rate of recidivism is due to the lack of efficient reintegration programs that contemplate employment and education. Therefore, we developed a holistic social reintegration model for incarcerated/liberated women, consisting of:

• Training/Employment: We train women in different crafts, as a way for them to learn a skill with which they can earn an income away from crime.
• Mental Health: Through psychological support and gender empowerment workshops, we improve their socioemotional skills.
• Occupational activities: We provide workshops in education, arts, and culture to have better human development.
• Legal Support: We defend women’s cases who suffered human rights violations.
• Follow Up in Freedom: We accompany liberated women through their re-entry process. 

This program, if scaled, can help more women in their social reintegration process.

In Mexico, more than 12,000 women live in prison; quantity that increases yearly. And, even though they are 5% of the total prison population, most of them resort to criminal activities as a source of income or as a way to get out of poverty, inequality, and violence or because they were a man’s crime accessory. This is how they end up in prison and far from encountering a system that allows them to be socially reintegrated and have opportunities upon release, they find themselves in worse circumstances than before.

Along with the fact that 66% of the prisons lack effective social reintegration models, more than 80% of these women are in a “technological limbo” because they entered prison 20 years ago or they do not have an insight of basic computing or other technological sources (email, excel, word, social media), which denies them the opportunity to get a job after serving their sentences, considering that is a basic knowledge to enter the job market in the country.

The latter, along with an educational lag and social stigma make it almost impossible to find a job in freedom, which affects in their economic autonomy and their self-esteem, increasing their recidivism.

Considering the hostile environment for imprisoned/released women, we aim to reduce the technological lag and promote entrepreneurship, through a program of soft and technical skills for work, which will ensure that imprisoned/released women have the essential tools and knowledge to find a decent job, thus reducing recidivism rates.

Enabling spaces in 4 Mexican prisons with computer material, Internet and basic software we will implement the technological literacy program, consisting of 3 modules:

1. Computing (18 hours) Basic functions of computers and how to use them through a theoretical-practical methodology. Upon completion, the women will have basic computer skills, learn how to use the Internet, email, Microsoft Windows, basic code and social media.

2 Skills for the Future (30 hours): Four modules that seek to develop fundamental techniques and soft skills for competitive performance in the formal labor market.

3. Entrepreneurship (20 hours): Knowledge necessary to start a business. At the end of this module, the participants will pitch their business proposal and winners will have personalized mentoring and help to start their own project.

With this program our holistic reintegration model will be strengthen, combining flexible curriculum in hard and soft skills and preparing women for work. 

We impact a community that is highly marginalized and “invisible” to the public eye: women in prisons.

Most of them were raised in areas of high marginalization with limited opportunities which had a negative effect on their upbringing, considering that they have a low education, socioeconomic level and a limited access to basic and secondary services. Also, more than 80% of women are mothers and they were sole breadwinner their homes before being arrested. The average age is 30-45 years old, with a middle and/or high school education level, and -as stated- do not have basic computing and technological knowledge. Alongside, in the penitentiary system they are frequently stigmatized because of gender stereotypes, thus abandoned by their first social circle. Also, they are constant victims of economic, social, and emotional abuses. Actually, prisons are often conducive to crime due to high rates of overcrowding and inadequate rehabilitation programs, which perpetuates the vicious circle of living in poverty and having higher risk of being involved in criminal activities inside prisons and upon release.

Throughout the 5 years we’ve been working with this population, we have learned their concerns, being mainly the need for a second chance to change their lives. The three modules of our solution will give them the technical, economic and empowerment tools necessary to find a job or start their own projects; in this way we will be able to break the cycle of poverty and marginality, they will have a decent income, they will be able to continue being economic support for their families and they will become examples of resilience, not only for their children, but for the entire community.

The latter is also data-proven, considering that with our education and training programs, and according to our impact measurement 100% of our beneficiaries have learned new skills and abilities, allowing them to work and increase their monthly income up to 30%, empowering them economically and socially. 

By strengthening our holistic reintegration model with digital and technological literacy, we will be increasing the economic and employment opportunities for imprisoned and released women. In this sense, we will be contributing to build an inclusive digital economy that affords the most marginalized group (imprisoned women) the opportunity to lead a dignified and productive life, considering that the program will help them to quickly adapt to the constant changes in the labor market and its demands, so that this way, they really have a real second chance to re-build their lives.

La Cana has been operating for 5 years now in 4 prisons in Estado de México and Mexico City (and recently in 1 more prison), impacting more than 400 women and proving that its holistic reintegration model is effective. Nevertheless, this model could be strengthened with the literacy program already described. In this sense, the organization will grow by including the program to the whole model with the established organization’s beneficiaries. Also, as the organization is expanding, the program will be expanded too to the new penitentiary institutions and its imprisoned women

Our solution is innovative, because we are the only organization that created a socioeconomic model for women in prisons that builds bridges between the job market and the incarcerated women. Additionally, there are no other organizations that seek to teach technological matters to incarcerated women. They are an invisible sector of society who is triple-discriminated against for being women, for being in prison, and for being poor. Our intervention breaks paradigms and sensitizes the population. It is innovative because no one bets on women who are or were in prison, but possibly many of them will be future entrepreneurs in their communities when they are impacted by our project.

This is also important, considering that a tendency exists towards the use of prison labor as a mechanism of labor exploitation and cheap labor has been observed in these companies.

Also, our model differs from other organizations that work with population in prison because of the Technology Training focus and the integral approach of providing entrepreneurship, mental health workshops, legal advice, advocacy work in public policies and support to find a job once they have served their sentence and regained their freedom.

We live in a world that is moved by technological; nevertheless, not all the population has the same access to technology, thus still existing discrimination in this subject specifically. For example, on one hand, we have technology that allows us to explore the online universe and be part of the job market that constantly uses technology, and on the other, millions of people do not know how to send an email and attach their resume to find a job. For this reason, our solution uses existing technology, software and basic hardware: Office, Code, and Internet packages to learn, from sending an email, putting together a professional summary, using an Excel sheet, to knowledge of e-commerce, digital marketing and social media. The basics to get a job where they can develop and grow. We start from the basics because in this way we cover the needs of our beneficiaries. One of the challenges of working with the prison population will be to make use of the secure internet, since the prison system's policies prohibit the use of the internet, in such a way that we will be extremely careful to comply with these regulations without affecting the training program.

Some educational systems and even geographical places in the world “have not kept pace with the changing nature of work, resulting in many employers saying they cannot find enough workers with the skills they need” (McKinsey, 2017). In a McKinsey survey, 40 percent of employers said lack of skills was the main reason for entry-level job vacancies. Among these skills, there are communication and technological ones. Therefore, reducing these gaps in technological skills can be beneficial for both: population in general and enterprises. Just to mention an example, the social enterprise Laboratoria has proven this right, impacting, training and connecting more than 3,200 women with the job market in programming and technological skills. Here you can find more information: https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2994420/Laboratoria_ReportedeImpacto2019.pdf

Also, since 2020, we have been implementing a basic computing program to the liberated women as part of our follow-up/occupational programs, which has the objective of providing these women with abilities and capacities that are considered to be essential for their work placement. From the 100% of the participants, only the 25% of them have used a computer before. With the training, 100% of the participants learned the parts of the computer, as well as the basic functions of it. Likewise, they created an e-mail, learned how to use Power Point, Excel, Word and how to do research and use the internet, including videoconference platforms such as Zoom, Hangouts, etc.

“This was enriching. From not knowing how to turn on a computer, now I can even make a presentation. This is a huge accomplishment for me”, told us a beneficiary, sense that can be extended to the whole group of beneficiaries.

Finally, we have found evidence that ensures that using computers and technology inside prisons have contributed to reduce violence and recidivism rates:

1. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/policybriefedtech.pdf

2. https://www.oics.wa.gov.au/wp-...

The highest and most probable risk is that women in prison will no be familiarized with technological devices; complicating the quick adaptation to them. Nevertheless, this is why the first module of the program contemplates basic functions of computers and technology in general.

Also, there is a risk that the penitentiary institutions will make it difficult to introduce computers and software to prisons, due to security issues. We can overcome this risk with the good relation we have with the authorities and by proceeding with the proper formal request and application for this process. 

Our current holistic social reintegration model has contributed to eradicate poverty and improve quality of life of more than 400 women in 4 prisons in Mexico. Specifically, our Technology Training, Good Jobs and Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Women in Prison initiative will impact 120 women in the first year, 15 per semester in each of the 4 prisons where we work.

In one year, we will open our scope to 2 new prisons impacting 180 women; and in 2 years with 2 more prisons, we could impact 240 more women.

In other words, in 2 years having the program in 8 prisons in Mexico, we will be able to impact more than 540 incarcerated women and -continuing the tendency- in 5 years, more than 1,200 women. 

We have begun the process to become a B-Corp, which means that we will always put the social impact above any financial benefit, proving our compromise to the sustainable development of our communities.

Also, we have begun the implementation of a Social Impact Franchise (SIF), guided by a firm of experts in the matter. Our goal is that this model could be replicated in every prison where women does not have employment and training opportunities, in order to eliminate the barriers that imprisoned women face to obtain a decent work, which could allow them to live a life away from crime and poverty. This model is highly replicable and profitable applying the social franchise model, which in fact is our value proposition. We want to encompass the rest of the country, as well as Central and South America which have similar conditions in their penitentiary systems.

Finally, we have a public policy and advocacy program, that allows us to impact not only the population of the prisons where we work in, but all the prison population nationwide. We have presented before the Senate a reform to legislate prison labor in order to guarantee inmates’ minimum social and labor standards. With this, it will contribute to promoting the participation of the private sector in the generation of skills and jobs for incarcerated people, guaranteeing their rights and access to social security benefits compatible with the legal situation of such population.

In 5 years, we have been measuring our impact, through different quantitative, qualitative and impact methodologies. In this sense, we have had an impact on more than 400 women, which is the 23% of the female prison population in the State of Mexico, and 3% nationwide. Furthermore, during this time, we have proven that our holistic social reintegration model has been efficient. We have increased our education workshops in 200% because of their high demand; and 100% of the women who have been in our programs have learned new skills and abilities, allowing them to work and increase their monthly income up to 30%, which improves not only their economic autonomy inside prisons, but also 95% of our beneficiaries use this income to support their families, contributing to the sustainable development of their communities.

Likewise, in terms of enhancing a peace culture, we have a 99% non-recidivism success rate with our beneficiaries; violent incidents reduced 75% in the prisons we work in because women feel productive and in ease; 97% state that our programs keep them busy and out of trouble; 77% have better interpersonal relations with other inmates and relatives; and 95% of them got a job within 6 months upon release, completing their socioeconomic autonomy once in freedom. All of this proving an effective social reintegration for women in México.

We have 22 full-time staff between the for profit and nonprofit organization and 136 workers (all women).

We are a group of young, passionate, professional women committed to social change. We met in law school. In our practice visits to prisons, we were deeply touched by the stories of incarcerated women. The struggle was real, and the lack of economic opportunities was evident. Since the first visit, we could not standby, and we decided to advocate intensely for a change, creating La Cana.

To fulfill our vision, we build a team with a multidisciplinary background; thus, we have different areas: (i) legal with an emphasis on Human Rights and Criminal Law; (ii) Sales focused on marketing with social impact; (iii) Mental Health, conformed by specialized Psychologists, Psychotherapists and Criminologists; (iv) Public Policy advocated to inmates’ labor rights; (v) Finance and administrative; and (vi) professional educators specialized in pedagogic methodologies and socioemotional skills.  

Beyond academics, thanks to the experience gained for more than 8 years working with incarcerated women, and visiting more than 20 prisons, we have become aware of their reality, problems and needs that surround them. Also, the challenges of this project have developed in the team values such as, empathy, sorority, assertive communication, persistence, and tenacity in face of adversity.

To ensure success and sustainability as a social enterprise, we have a professional team with a business-oriented and financial mindset, who are passionate about the cause and are willing to preserve our for-profit but impact-oriented nature.

Our team is uniquely positioned to inflect deep change into the female prison system and into society.  

We promote a gender equity space with our collaborators and beneficiaries. Our company is made up 100% of women, including formerly incarcerated women, who have graduated from our programs. Therefore, we not only employ women in prisons and upon release, but we encourage them to take leadership roles in the organization. This gets exemplified with Selene’s story of life. She started being a participant in our workshops who suffered anxiety and depression and who was abandoned by her family because she was in prison. Now, she is the administrative assistant in the organization; and, furthermore she is happy, economically independent, and grateful to La Cana to the point that she is also a teacher to other women who have been released from prison.

Also, the composition of our team enables us to be an organization with gender perspective that understands the social reality women face. This is why have a flexible working-hours policy and give them the opportunities to participate in mentoring programs and women empowerment workshops.