While juvenile delinquency and the tightening of criminal justice measures are much discussed in Greece, incarcerated youths themselves remain largely invisible, even in the very communities where prisons are located. What is the experience of incarceration at a young age? And what are its consequences both during the period of incarceration and in the years after one’s release? Informed by a three-year ethnographic study conducted in six prison schools across Greece, the program Breaking the Silence aims to foster dialogue between university students and young incarcerated individuals in Thessaly. Educator Antigoni Efstratoglou will first coordinate a series of experiential workshops exploring and documenting how the former imagine incarceration and its effects. Then both groups will meet together in the local prison to produce a collaborative podcast about their respective lives. The goal of the project is to develop alternative narratives about the Greek justice and education systems that shift the focus away from punishment and control and instead toward support, recognition, and healing.

Image: Koridhallos Prison. Wing E. National Preventive Mechanism Against Torture & Ill-treatment – Annual Special Report 2022-2023