Unisa holds career day expo for incarcerated women
The Inside-out Outside-in South African Corrections Interest Group hosted the exhibition to help offenders with practical skills to reintegrate into society.
Unisa and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) recently held a career day expo as part of an initiative to help incarcerated women get back on their feet.
The Inside-out Outside-in South African Corrections Interest Group, housed in the College of Human Sciences Department of Psychology, held the exhibition on February 13.
The programme aimed to address academic and administrative-related queries, provide guidance on Unisa courses, and facilitate an open dialogue about the transformative potential of education.
This interest group is a Flagship Engaged Scholarship Project, driven in collaboration with DCS. The group was started in 2013 by Unisa Department of Psychology staff and students.
The first visit of 2025 was at the Gender Responsive Centre, formerly known as the Female Correctional Centre, in Laudium.
It was the first time that Inside-out Outside-in had the opportunity to host a career day for women in conflict with the law.
The event was designed as an exhibition of support for both incarcerated students and correctional service officials and is a partnership among various stakeholders from Unisa and It’s Possible for All, a non-profit organisation.
Stakeholders also donated 100 academic books to the prison library, a contribution from the Unisa Library under the auspices of the Inside-out Outside-in Book Club.
The exhibition showcased the collaborative efforts of various Unisa colleges and units, including Law, Human Sciences, Economic and Management Sciences, the Directorate: Counselling and Career Development, the Unisa Library, the Directorate: Student Funding, and the Recognition of Prior Learning unit.
Advocate Patricia Masinga-Thobejane, head of the Gender Responsive Centre, welcomed the effort, saying that it was much needed and emphasised the importance of using education to better oneself.
“Beautiful moments in life cannot be seen or touched; they are felt by the heart. Education does more than provide knowledge, it restores dignity, fosters purpose and ignites a future filled with many possibilities,” Masinga said.
The correctional centre offers a holistic rehabilitative environment, providing in-house services such as a beauty salon (nails, hair), a well-equipped farm, a horse ranch, and a tuck shop, all aimed at equipping offenders with practical skills for reintegration into society.
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