Suporte social de reclusos de nacionalidade estrangeira em Portugal

Abstract

The research on the imprisonment reveals some flaws on what concerns the support networks, specifically foreign prisoners who encounter various difficulties inherent to the prison context, such as the language and the adaptation to a cultural reality different of theirs (Cunha, 1994). Social support, in the researches carried out, appears as a component which positively influences both the overall well-being as well as the physical and mental health of the individual (Campos, 2004; Siqueira, 2008). Given these possible setbacks this study aims to characterize and understand the meaning that foreign prisoners attach to their social support networks. In order to access the perceptions about social support networks, interviews were conducted to six foreign inmates of a prison in the northern region of the country, favoring a qualitative approach to data analysis. The mains results suggest that the leading figures of the foreign prisoner support ate composed by the elements of family, friends and similars, other inmates and the prison staff as a whole. It appears that the levels of satisfaction with the support figures are associated with family members, with respect to the type of support and maintenance visits to the prison. Figures related to the prison context – other inmates and staff – are mentioned in the negative support reviews.

Date of Award	25 Jul 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Raquel Matos (Supervisor)