City Government of Rio de Janeiro

This presentation was commissioned by the Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Network of the Regional Policy Dialogue for the V Hemispheric Meeting celebrated on May 22nd and 23ed, 2003. In Brazil, on average 80% of persons released from the prison system return to prison; up to 99% are unable to obtain formal-sector employment. The Agentes da Liberdade program is a policy to provide support to and in particular to enhance the employability of men and women as they are released from the prison system. We have 20 Agentes da Liberdade already working in the city; our goal is to provide support to 500 persons released from prison per year.