Prêmio Claudia |

Dulce Ramos

Field of action: Prisoner re-integration
Place of work: Ramblas - Propaganda and Design Paper, São Paulo
Indicated by: Andréia Peres (journalist)


PROJECT DEVELOPED

Dulce Ramos, 41, is a lawyer and the commercial director of Ramblas - Propaganda and Design Paper. Since 1990 Dulce has been working with prisoners in São Paulo and presently she employs fifteen former and 500 current prisoners. They receive special training, earn per finished item, and as a result are granted a decrease in their prison terms and re-integrate into the job market more easily.

FIELD OVERVIEW

Brazil counts 204,000 prisoners – proportionally 122 inmates for every 100,000 inhabitants. The system, which has little over 300 prisons, jails and detention centers, is known for its many rebellions and by clashes between inmates and the police, which put those involved at risk.

Despite the yearly invested R$1.7 billion, the few job and personal development opportunities in these Brazilian institutions allow for practically no recovery. In top security prisons 45% of inmates end up committing crimes once again, whereas in regular jails this number is lower than 12%.

CANDIDATE'S PROFILE AND WORK BACKGROUND

Dulce Ramos was born in São Paulo, has a 22-year old daughter, and is divorced. In 1984, while she was studying law at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC), she was a trainee at Carandiru (the largest prison compound in Brazil) and reviewed penal processes. She was in contact with several prisoners, who frequently asked her for job opportunities. Dulce graduated in 1987, but did not practice law. Instead she started her own business in 1988, called Ramblas, Propaganda and Design Paper. Her company creates tri-dimensional cards, with the client's logo, which are folded manually and assembled without the use of glue.

Dulce, however, kept in mind the prisoners' requests for job opportunities. She returned to Carandiru prison in search of inmates interested in producing cards. As these paper sculptures require delicate handling, few believed the prisoners – some of whom were murderers – would be capable of doing the job. "Some colleagues accused me of offering jobs to criminals instead of unemployed people", says Dulce. The prisoners, however, soon proved them wrong. The first card produced by them was a heart-shaped tri-dimensional card consisting of fourteen pieces. That same year Ramblas was given its first significant order of 2,000 cards by Rossi Residencial Company. Other firms followed suit. "Clients praised the work, but for fear of prejudice I did not reveal it was done by prisoners", says Dulce. Even though twelve years ago she employed forty prisoners, this number has reached approximately 500 nowadays. After having worked for nine years at the Professor Flamínio Fávero Detention House, of Carandiru compound, Dulce presently works with inmates from Adriano Marrey Prison, in Guarulhos (São Paulo state). To this latter prison she was able to transfer 200 prisoners from Carandiru who were working for her.

The prisoners, upon being chosen by Ramblas, not only learn a job while in jail, but also benefit from the Penal Execution Law, which offers a reduction of one day in prison for every three worked. The same law states that prisoners may receive no less than three-fourths of a minimum wage. Each prisoner earns 20 cents (of reais) from Ramblas per item produced, and since they usually make over 1,000 cards a month, their monthly salaries are of approximately R$ 200.

Dulce has always believed that companies would accept the prisoners' work and intended to identify the cards with the inscription "hand-made by Carandiru". The 1992 Carandiru massacre however put her plans on hold. Upon hearing about the results of the rebellion on TV, Dulce hurried to the prison compound to find out about those prisoners who worked for her. Standing among the desperate prisoners' family members, she witnessed the scene of black sheets with white crosses being hung from the prison windows. This was only a foreboding of the tragic result of action taken by the police to control the rebellion: 111 dead prisoners. Twenty of them had worked for Ramblas.

Following the rebellion, the new prison warden, attorney Felipe Borges, decided to support Dulce's initiative. "He understood the importance of the project", says Dulce. Starting in 1993 Ramblas began showing its products in trade fairs and exhibitions. On one of these occasions, American TRW auto-part maker ordered the first cards with the "hand-made by Carandiru" inscription. "Even the people at our headquarters in Cleveland, United States, were interested", says Helder Boccaletti, marketing director of TRW at the time. Ramblas also made cards for: AGF, ABN Amro Bank, SBT, Papa Tudo, Unibanco Ecologia, GPM, among others. Since 1994, some cards can be found in the Graphics Gallery of Massachusetts, United States. In 1995 one of its products developed for Unibanco, was granted an award by the Strathmore paper factory (a regular supplier of products for the White House, United States). "I was very pleased with this result, as I had to compete with European companies", says Dulce. Another reason to rejoice was when Avon (Ramblas' client up to the present), two years later, ordered 660,000 cards.

HOW IT WORKS

In order to identify the prisoners who work for Ramblas, Dulce created T-shirts featuring the company name, which are worn during work hours. Workers are selected from each pavilion, where one prisoner is appointed to recruit others interested in working. Some prisoners continue at Ramblas even after having been released. One example is Odair Rodrigues Villar, who was freed in 1996.

"Considering both my good behavior and my work in prison, I was able to reduce my sentence from fifteen to thirteen years and nine months", says Odair. "Nobody is interested in hiring former prisoners. Ramblas is also a reference when I am looking for other jobs".

CANDIDATE'S IMPORTANCE

According to José Carlos Gomes, Public Security Secretariat aide of the State of São Paulo, Dulce was not only a pioneer in her work with prisoners, but due to her activities wardens were made aware of the importance of labor therapy (activity within prisons similar to occupational therapy, with the objective of social re-integration). To Julita Legrumber, director of the Security and Citizenship Study Center of the Cândido Mendes University, Rio de Janeiro, Ramblas sets a good example of dealing with prejudice against inmates' work. "Despite the law which allows companies to hire prisoners, Brazilian businesspeople still believe that they will break machines, steal things", says Legrumber. "Besides paving the way for re-integration of those who have already served their sentence, Dulce's initiative shows executives of other areas that they are wasting an opportunity", she adds. In 1997, minister of Justice José Gregori, National Secretary of Human Rights at the time, declared that initiatives such as the one taken by Ramblas were essential to re-educate prisoners, by offering them work opportunities.

CANDIDATE'S COMMENT

"I was able to shift the paradigm of several businesspeople, by showing the need to help prisoners who have the potential of becoming professionals. Some companies, upon observing our work, became interested in supporting the inmates. This is extremely rewarding. I believe that Ramblas will be the largest and best card company in Brazil. We aim for good quality, we respect deadlines, and we count on very good human resources. Having prisoners making the cards does not mean our work is poorly done. Actually they produce quite sophisticated pieces. Many people forget that prisoners have already been condemned and are paying a price for what they did. Why should they be judged by us as well?"