"מסתכלים בך בגובה העיניים ומאמינים בך": תרומת החונכות של סטודנטים לאסירים

This study deals with the evaluation of the programin which students are mentoring prisoners in Israel.In this program which already exists for 30 years, 40female and male students from the CriminologyDepartments of Bar-Ilan University and AshkelonAcademic College, visit prisons on a weekly basis tomentor 150 criminal prisoners. Mentoring is done intwo ways: Individually, in which a student mentorsa single prisoner, and in a group, in which one ortwo mentors mentor a group of about ten inmates.These activities continue throughout the academicyear, for about seven months each year. The programhas several goals dealing with the inmates beingmentored and the mentoring students. This articleaddresses the contribution of the program to theinmates. The aims of the program include: (1) Creatingmeaningful social connections between students andprisoners, especially with prisoners who do not receivevisits from their family or their friends; (2) Encouragingprisoners to think positively and constructively abouttheir future; (3) Encouraging the prisoners to practiceanger management and to be representative of thenormative society that is supposed to absorb themwhen they are released from prison. Twenty-one prisoners participated in the study. It wasconducted in a qualitative method through semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The findings of thestudy indicate that the mentoring students graduallybecame significant individuals in the eyes of theinmates. Most inmates talked in the interviews abouthaving very good relationships with the students, andthat under the influence of the meetings with thestudents, they learned to consider their responsesmore constructively. They also learned to avoidviolent responses. Inmates also described a processof feeling less self-centered due to the mentoringmeetings. They felt the meetings broadened theirworldview and helped them better understand thereasons that led them to delinquency.Several prisoners indicated forming a more normativeworldview, and a positive change in their behavior.Almost all the interviewees greatly appreciated theirmeetings with the mentors. The findings point to thegreat value of mentoring meetings between studentsand inmates in an organized mentoring setting, andof the worthwhileness of expanding this activity formore inmates