Vocational training and correctional education in prisons are playing an important role in giving detainees a second chance. According to the General Department of Prisons under the Ministry of Interior, 8,149 detainees, including 703 women, received vocational and occupational training during the first nine months of 2026 to prepare for reintegration into society after release. Of these, 262 trainees completed their studies and received official certificates of competence.
Training for more than 8,000 detainees was divided into three main forms: practical trials of skills and occupations for 4,521 people, training provided directly by prison units for 1,209, and training in cooperation with centres and partner organisations for 2,419.
Priority skills included tailoring, beauty services, construction, computer repair and use, electronics, refrigeration equipment and machinery. The prison department also promoted handicrafts, small-scale industry, agriculture and construction in line with each prison’s capacity, while continuing to seek investment partners and additional support.
Beyond technical skills, correctional education and rehabilitation programmes also strengthened general education. There are currently 90 literacy, equivalency (BEEP) and foreign-language classes teaching 1,589 detainees, including 178 women, with another 2,133 learning literacy in detention rooms.
In legal and moral education, 67,941 detainees received instruction on internal regulations, the Law on Prisons, the Criminal Code, the harmful effects of drugs, social and religious ethics, and digital technology. The NomadLab offline digital learning and reading project has been piloted at 29 prison sites using 199 technological devices, with 17,861 detainees participating. Reading activities have also been promoted: libraries recorded 47,438 readers and 66,295 people borrowing books from a total stock of 84,477 volumes.
Cambodia currently has 25 capital and provincial prisons and four correctional education centres, holding more than 72,000 detainees in total. Written by: ប៉ៃ សុឃីម
