Cisco improves job prospects of Hungarian inmates

Cisco Systems - an international supplier of networking for the Internet - has started up a network-specialist training course in Hungary. Nothing unusual about that you might think - except its been launched for inmates of the Nagyfa Prison in the southeast of the country. So far, 15 convicts have enrolled on the course, which promises to turn them into highly competitive network specialists. Petra Hajdu of Radio Budapest talked to asked Cisco Systems consultant Balázs Mátrai.

"We were approached by a company that had already deployed IT courses in Hungarian prisons and this company that wanted to broaden its IT offerings and they came across this Cisco Networking Academy program and they wanted to start a co-operation."

So what exactly happens in this program?

"This is an IT course comprised of four semesters. The 15 prisoners enrolled in this course did not have to have any previous networking skills. By the end of the first semester the individuals who will be able to complete this course will basically achieve skills that allow them to design, build and maintain small and medium size networks."

Do you actually promise to employ them as soon as they are released?

"We do believe that this course will enable them to find jobs more easily but we are also aware of the difficulties they will face upon their release in finding a new job so we are currently looking into their potential employment, once they complete the course and they are released, and we are working on this together with the NGO that actually deploys the program in the prison."

Did you have any pre-conditions as to who can participate in the course?

"The strong pre-requisite was an existing set of basic IT skills such as how to use a PC and how to use core applications on PC's. Most of the prisoners who enrolled in this program have already completed an IT course, which is very similar to the European Computer driving license course. And actually a few prisoners who are now enrolled in this course were transferred from other prisons to ensure that the group which is now enrolled would be very likely to succeed."

Morally speaking, does it matter to you that a prisoner enrolled in the course is a thief or a murderer?

"There are differences in terms of crimes of course. Our goal is not to judge the prisoners; our goal is to give them something that they can use as a tool for their integration upon their release, which we believe, would benefit both the individual and society. The goal is to co-exist and after their release they should be regarded as citizens. Of course this is a prison and the prisoners who are in this prison of Nagyfa are convicts of, let's say, not harsh crimes. Most of them enrolled in this course will be released within a year or two. A pre-requisite was that they shouldn't be released within one year because this course will take a year to complete. Which means that they are usually convicted of smaller crimes so to speak, such as theft and things like that."