Bars do not arrest thoughts: limits of institutionalization concerning reestructuring of adolescent’s life project

Abstract

The general aim of this study was to identify if socio-educational rehabilitation imprisonment has been effective considering building up opportunities the reconstruct the adolescent’s life project. We accomplished a quantitative research, using documents as source of data, analyzing 736 identification charts of male adolescents, imprisoned in Santa Maria/RS, following research on the Integrated Research System of the Superintendence of Penitentiary Services. From the overall number of youth, only 36% had only one entrance in the institution and 52.9% had been imprisoned until March 2008. Such numbers reveal the lack of efficiency of imprisonment in such cases, which is probably related with the severity of the cases, with problems and difficulties historically identified in such institutions, as well as with the nature of the activities carried out in there. In conclusion, the quality of the interpersonal relationships is a crucial aspect to be considered related to the process of creating more effective intervention programs.