巴西監獄：讀一本書減四天刑

巴西監獄系統近期推出一項減刑新規，讀一本書減四天刑。這項新規將在巴西四所聯邦監獄實行，服刑人員如果能在一年內讀完12本文學、哲學、科學或者經典類著作，便可獲得最高48天的減刑。據新規規定，服刑人員讀一本書的時限爲四周，讀完之後還需提交一份“語言通順、文法正確、字跡清晰”的論文。然後由一個特別評估小組來決定哪些服刑人員能夠加入“讀書救贖”計劃。

Brazil will offer inmates in its crowded federal penitentiary system a novel way to shorten their sentences: four days less for every book they read.

Inmates in four federal prisons holding some of Brazil's most notorious criminals will be able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced.

Prisoners will have up to four weeks to read each book and write an essay which must "make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins and legible joined-up writing," said the notice published on Monday in the official gazette.

A special panel will decide which inmates are eligible to participate in the program dubbed "Redemption through Reading".

"A person can leave prison more enlightened and with an enlarged vision of the world," said Sao Paulo lawyer Andre Kehdi, who heads a book donation project for prisons.

"Without doubt they will leave a better person," he said.