Inmates serving time for crimes ranging from robbery to murder in Brazil’s Arisvaldo de Campos Pires maximum security prison are getting a day off their sentence for every three days they knit and crochet for the high-end Doiselles fashion label. For their work, they also earn 75 per cent of Brazil's minimum wage, a quarter of which is put aside and paid when they are released.
In 2009, when Brazilian fashion designer Raquel Guimaraes could not find knitters for her Doiselles label, she turned to the prison authorities or help. She started out by training 18 prisoners to knit and crochet. Guimaraes has trained around 100 prisoners to participate in the program since she started it four years ago. The program is named the Flor de Lotus ('Lotus Flower') Project.
Arisvaldo de Campos Pires is located about 100 miles north of Rio de Janairo.
Guimaraes personally maintains quality control over the work. The finished products are sold in 70 Brazilian stores, as well as in high fashion stores in the United States, France and Japan.
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