A look of surprise fills the face on the large screen set up on the stage of Theater aan het Vrijthof. Rector Rianne Letschert has just announced that Vera Karagiannidou will receive the UM Student Award 2021. Most of the other nominees are physically present in the room, but the winner from Greece is attending the ceremony via a live feed.
She’s currently in the process of moving across the country: having just completed her Bachelor of European Law at UM this summer, she is now heading north to pursue a master’s degree in International Human Rights Law in Groningen.
Shocked
The annual award is given to UM students who have made “an exceptional social or cultural contribution” to society. There were six nominations this year – from creating podcasts about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrants and refugees to establishing a supermarket selling local and sustainable products – but the judging panel was most impressed by Karagiannidou.
In the midst of the pandemic, she set up the Legal Aid Clinic for Prisoners, which is now supported by the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology of the Faculty of Law. “Learning more about the Dutch criminal law system, I was shocked to discover how difficult it is for prisoners to get legal aid here”, says Karagiannidou. “That’s why I set up the clinic, inspired by a similar project at Utrecht University.”
The project consists of a practical part and a theoretical part. The latter part is currently underway: online lectures and courses are being used to promote awareness of prisoners’ rights among students and academics. “We don’t just look at law, but also at other disciplines, such as psychology and neuroscience. Next to this, we study the rights of specific groups of prisoners, such as women, elderly and migrants.”
Destructive
The other goal of the Legal Aid Clinic is to bring students of Law at UM into contact with detainees in prisons in Roermond and Sittard, among others. But COVID-19 threw a spanner in the works: visitors were no longer allowed in prisons. Karagiannidou hopes that these restrictions will soon be lifted so that the students can get to work.
They will be focusing on the convicts’ rights during their re-entry into society. “For example, they’ll provide legal assistance with questions about what happens to your home when you go to prison, or how to find a job when you get out”, explains Karagiannidou.
She hopes that the project will not just help students gain experience in legal practice, but also help prisoners keep connected with society. “We’re trying to build trust by always being there for them. To show them that they’re not alone in society and that we’re listening to their concerns.”
“Personally, I find the very concept of imprisonment extreme and destructive”, continues Karagiannidou. “I’m convinced that it isn’t the right way to prevent crime. The roots of criminal behaviour can often be traced to factors such as poverty, unemployment, homelessness and racism. You don’t remove those factors by imprisoning someone. And subsequently marginalising them doesn’t help at all. I see this award as recognition of prisoners who feel alienated from society.”