SW News: A Catholic university in Poland is engaged in a noble initiative by transforming prison inmates through education. It is the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) that has been engaged in providing inmates with a chance to pursue higher studies since 2013. This helps them quit the life of crime once they are released. Recently, the university opened a study center at the Lublin Detention Center.

The new center’s inauguration and the start of the new academic year were marked by Holy Mass in the penitentiary’s chapel. The courses are also expected to instill spiritual and moral values in the prisoners. The Holy Father congratulated the new center and his greetings were sent through Papal Almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski. “The true rehabilitation of the condemned is necessary,” said the pope in his message.

The Polish Minister of Education and Science Przemysław Czarnek also lauded the new study center in the prison. As many as 10 inmates have enrolled in the master’s program in family sciences. Some of the other programs on offer are specializations suited to the socio-economic requirements of the labor sector. Among the new students of the Catholic University of Lublin, there were about ten inmates who were enrolled in the first year of studies of the master's degree program launched this year in the field of family sciences.

The Center for Studies at the Catholic University of Lublin is being noticed as a model for all prisons globally. According to its rector Fr Prof. Miroslaw Kalinowski, it will be a place for hosting educational projects or conducting postgraduate studies. He also added that the success of this project is that the Catholic University of Lublin cares about academic procedures, and the prison service cares about the security of this process.

As part of the inaugural ceremony, there was a lecture by Professor Marcin Skladanowski of the Institute of Theological Sciences. It was on why war broke out in Eastern Europe after the tragic experiences of the 20th century.

Over the past nine years, as many as 30 inmates have completed their higher studies at KUL.