Juliana, the assistant of Cooperativa Liberté, has been running since 2020. Now it is adding a new service — Legal Guidance — and, before opening it, in this first phase, to the entire prison population of Argentina, a team of people who truly know whether it works will test it.
The team is called the Human Team of Juliana's Legal Guidance Area. It is made up of people in prison, released people, and direct family members. The idea is simple: no one tests whether a tool works better than the person who needs it.
Who leads the team
It is led by the Colectivo de Detenidos/as —coordinated by Claudio Lugo— together with Cooperativa Liberté. The Colectivo is a mutual aid network of people in prison, their families, released people, human rights advocates, and organizations. That a tool designed for the prison population is steered by people who know prison from the inside is not a detail: it is the condition for the tool to actually work.
What Juliana's Legal Guidance is
It is a service that guides, not advises. Juliana can explain procedures, rights, and possible paths, but the final word always belongs to the official public defender or to your private attorney: every consultation ends with a referral to that professional support. Guidance opens the door; legal representation is done by whoever is responsible.
Who can join
We are looking for three groups: people in prison, people who have already regained their freedom, and direct family members. Lived experience is not an obstacle to overcome: it is the value. Anyone who has been through a penal unit, a public defender's office, or an enforcement court knows which questions actually come up and where the information fails.
What the team will test and contribute
The team checks data: phone numbers and emails for public defenders' offices, parole boards, enforcement courts, and penal units, to confirm they are correct and current. It contributes the real contacts Juliana does not yet have. It tests the guidance calculator for sentence reduction benefits, self-represented filings, and the delivery of certificates and training records by ID number. And it brings the hardest thing to get: the questions the population actually asks, in their own words and tone. Every piece of feedback — thumbs up with a comment included — is recorded to improve responses.
How to join
Through Juliana herself: write to her "I want to join Juliana's Legal Guidance Team" and she will register you. She asks for an alias, your connection to the issue, an email address (for password recovery), and who invited you, and gives you a password to log in each time. Entry is by invitation from the Colectivo de Detenidos/as: ask Claudio Lugo, or someone from the Colectivo, to invite you and they will tell you what to say.
What we offer
Participants receive a certificate of participation signed by Liberté, along with their declaration and training record. Recognition is public: team members are listed as co-builders of the service in the launch article. And there is learning along the way — about your own rights and about how to test a tool.
Data is protected
Nothing contributed goes directly into the database. Every contact and every piece of data goes through a review queue: an editor verifies it before Juliana uses it. Registration requires consent, only minimal data is requested, and real cases are handled anonymously. The core rule does not change: this is guidance, not legal advice, and the official public defender — or your private attorney — always comes first.
Your perspective is what is missing
As this team tests the service and approves each step, Juliana's Legal Guidance will gradually open to the rest of the prison population and to the broader community. If you are or have been in prison, or are a direct family member, join: ask the Colectivo de Detenidos/as to invite you and write to Juliana "I want to join Juliana's Legal Guidance Team".
