Reclusão e parentalidade

: perspetivas da população reclusa acerca da permanência de crianças na prisão

Abstract

This study aims to understand the perspectives of men and women in prison about children residing in prison, through a qualitative analysis, guided by the principles of Grounded Theory, of eight interviews with female and male prisoners. Exploring the way gender emerges in the perspectives of the participants, their knowledge, favorable and unfavorable arguments about children residing in prison, circumstances in which such practice is justified and recommendations for better practices were analyzed. The results showed the limited knowledge of the participants about children residing in prison, highlighting the unawareness of the possibility of children residing with their male parent in prison. The prisoners emphasized, as a favorable argument, the preservation of the bond between mother/father-son, and as negative arguments, the incarceration of the child without guilt and the inadequacy of the environment present in prison for the children’ development and safety. The residence of children in prison was recognized as a better practice in comparison to the institutionalization of the child, although the participants highlighted their preference to the children staying with the other parent or family members in the outside. Varied recommendations were mentioned too, namely improving the conditions of the space where children are residing in prison and consideration of the existence of children in the process of handing down the imprisonment sentence and anticipating furlough. At last, a tension between progressive and conservative values was found in the perspective of the participants about gender equality in parenting rights and responsibilities.

Date of Award	13 Jul 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Raquel Matos (Supervisor) & Catarina Ribeiro (Co-Supervisor)