From Social Exclusion to Social Inclusion: Femke Hofstee van de Meulen at TEDxBreda

"With X-mas I found myself in the biggest and most notorious prison of South-East Asia, the Tihar Jail in New Delhi (India). Amidst many others I had to press myself to the prison bars to make myself heard. I visited a German girl who was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for the possession of a small amount of soft drugs. Although I did not know her beforehand she explained to me that she was so glad that I visited her because it made her feel 'human' again."In her talk, Femke Hofstee -- van der Meulen recaptures how this daunting experience in the Tihar Jail in New Delhi influenced her career. It made her think about the particular vulnerable situation of foreign nationals in prison and about the importance of opening up prisons to the outside world by carrying out visits.
Regarding Femke Hofstee -- van der Meulen
Femke Hofstee-van der Meulen studied History at Leiden University in The Netherlands. She worked at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and at the European Commission in Brussels before becoming personal assistant to one of the Vice Presidents of the European Parliament. Femke was personal assistant to Baroness Vivien Stern at the House of Lords and Research Associate at the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) in London. After her return to The Netherlands she established Prison Watch (www.prisonwatch.org), an independent organisation that carries out research on prison related topics for national and international (non) governmental organisations and universities. Femke served as European Director for Altus Global Alliance (www.altus.org). For the Dutch Prison Service she wrote the 'Training Guide for Prison Officials based on the European Prison Rules'.Together with professor Anton van Kalmthout from Tilburg University she initiated and carried out a comparative research, co-sponsored by the European Commission, into foreign nationals in European prisons. The research was published in the book 'Foreigners in European prisons' (2007) parallel to her starting a PhD at Tilburg University on 'Care to Dutch Nationals detained abroad'. Since 2009, Femke is Inspector at the Dutch Inspectorate of Security and Justice.
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[@bonivillegacayan1018]

i personally met this woman Femke...i would say, she's a very kind and warm woman...i'm not surprised of what she has become...keep up!

[@chicagolandable]

From social exclusion to social exclusion.