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New Homes from Old Prisons (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Liz Wade.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: And I'm Colin Loalva. Spotlight uses a special English method
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: A man walks slowly through a long building. All the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: doors in this place look the same. They are thick,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: they have heavy locks on them. The man is in
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  Speaker 1: a prison, but when he gets to his door, he
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: opens it and smiles. His daughter happily runs to him
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and cries out his name. He can smell the food
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: his wife has cooked for their meal. He is happy
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to be home. This man and his family are living
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: in a prison that has been made into a home.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: In the Netherlands, many prisons have been closed. Instead, they
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: have been made into homes for refugees from around the world.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Today's spotlight is on this creative housing project.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Many prisons in the Netherlands are empty. Since twenty ten,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: more than twenty prisons here have closed. This is about
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: one third of all prisons in the Netherlands, and that
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: number is rising every year. Prisons are closing because the
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: crime rate has been going down every year and methods
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: of punishment are changing. Tom Coggins is a writer for
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  Speaker 1: the website culture Trip.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: He wrote national statistics suggest that crime rates in the
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Netherlands have gone down by about zero point nine percent
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  Speaker 3: every year. Even people found guilty rarely face long prison sentences.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: The Dutch legal system most of the time does not
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: have strong punishments. Instead, they use fines or use devices
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: people wear on their leg so the government knows where
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  Speaker 3: they are. They do this instead of only using prisons.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: People from the Netherlands are practical people. If something is
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: not working, they will change it. Rene Swaningen is a
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: professor of criminology at Erasmus School of Law in Rotterdam.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: He explained to The New York Times the attitude toward
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: crime in the nethers.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: The Dutch value what works. This is true when it
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: comes to making laws and keeping order. Prisons cost a
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: lot of money. In a place like the United States,
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: people often look at the moral reasons for putting someone
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: in prison, but the Netherlands looks at what is working
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: and what could work better.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: So in the last few years, prisons in the Netherlands
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  Speaker 1: were closing, but at this same time, millions of people
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: across Europe were also looking for a safe place to live.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: There was a war in the country of Syria, over
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: six million people had to leave the country. Other refugees
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: came from countries like Afghanistan, South Sudan, Iraq and Somalia.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: These people wanted a safe place to live and work.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Some countries in Europe did not welcome these people, but
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: many countries did want to help. However, it was difficult
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: to know how to take care of so many people.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Simply finding homes was a challenge. In twenty fifteen alone,
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  Speaker 1: more than sixty thousand refugees entered the Netherlands.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: The Netherlands saw a creative way to help this situation.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers or CoA,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: is responsible for managing people escaping from other countries. They
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: decided to use the empty prisons as homes for refugees.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: In twenty seventeen, the CoA opened twelves centers for refugees.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: However, the government did not want people to feel like
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  Speaker 1: they were in prison. They needed to change the prisons.
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  Speaker 1: At some prisons, they removed walls, They planted trees and flowers.
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  Speaker 1: They made places for children to play and run. They
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  Speaker 1: combined two prison rooms to make them larger and better
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  Speaker 1: for families. They added places to cook food, exercise, and
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  Speaker 1: take language and computer classes.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: It is still clear that the buildings used to be prisons.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: They still look like prisons. There are strong doors and locks,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: there are gates, but the people there are not criminals.
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  Speaker 2: They have different rules. Refugees are not permitted to work.
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  Speaker 2: They receive money from the government for basic needs. They
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: may leave the building and return when they want to.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: They can ride a bicycle, which is very common in
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  Speaker 2: the Netherlands. They need to tell the people working at
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: the refugee center when they leave and return. This is
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  Speaker 2: to keep everyone safe. Many centers offer classes in the
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Dutch language, computers or other skills.
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  Speaker 1: Refugees do not live in the centers forever, but they
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  Speaker 1: live there for at least six months. Their goal is
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  Speaker 1: to become citizens of the Netherlands. Sometimes the process can
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  Speaker 1: go slowly. People may even be approved to live in
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: the Netherlands, but they have nowhere to go yet.
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  Speaker 2: And living in a different country requires people to learn
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  Speaker 2: a whole new culture. Nasa came to the Netherlands from Syria.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: He spoke to Al Jazeera about moving to a new
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  Speaker 2: country and how he is starting to fit in.
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  Speaker 5: It was difficult to live in a new culture, but
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  Speaker 5: I started going out and speaking to people and finding
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  Speaker 5: a job. Now most of my friends are Dutch.
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  Speaker 1: Living in these prisons is not always wonderful, but it
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  Speaker 1: is not terrible either. Muhammed Muheisen did not think using
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: prisons in this way was a good idea at first.
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  Speaker 1: He is a photographer for the Associated Press. He has
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: worked for years taking pictures of refugees in Europe and
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  Speaker 1: the Middle East. When he heard about this project, he
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  Speaker 1: could not imagine anything but a prison. He did not
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: like the idea of putting refugees in a prison. After
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: six months, he was permitted to visit a refugee enter
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: and take pictures. He explained to National Geographic.
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: I did not exactly understand. I thought it would feel
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  Speaker 6: like they were in prison.
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  Speaker 2: Mouheusen visited three different centers. He spent over a month
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: visiting people and seeing their lives. He gained a much
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  Speaker 2: different understanding. The centers could even be considered beautiful in
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: the way different people live together. He explained.
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  Speaker 6: We are talking about people from many different countries. There
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  Speaker 6: is the whole world represented in this place.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think about this way to use prisons.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever had to leave your country? Where did
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: you go? Tell us about your experiences. You can leave
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: a comment on our website or email us at Radio
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: at Radio English dot net. You can also comment on
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Spotlight Radio.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Adam Navis. The producer
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: was Michyo Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: to this program again and read it on the internet
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: at www dot Radio English dot net. This program is
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: called New Homes from Old Prisons.
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  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
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  Speaker 1: Spotlight program. Goodbye,