The Meaning of Psychologists' Work in the Pará Prison System

Abstract

This is a report on a qualitative phenomenological study aimed at identifying and understanding the meanings that psychologists working in the prison system in Pará attribute to their daily practices. Four psychologists took part in the study. The methodology used an electronic form on Google Forms, followed by a semi-structured interview via videoconference on Google Meet. For the analysis and synthesis, we used Amedeo Giorgi's model. The results point to the practice of dialogue between psychology and the technical horizon in guiding the care of people deprived of their liberty; resonances in the work space regarding the precariousness of the institutional bond, the characteristics of listening and clinical understanding of detainees, which highlights the border between health, mainly in its biomedical aspect, and the focus on reintegration, understood as the return to living with society after serving a sentence. We conclude by reaffirming the relevance of the work of psychologists based on care, which helps to confront society's prejudices associated with the prison population. It is possible for psychology to work together as a team to implement a critical approach based on human rights. One meaning of the work is to question the logic of incarceration and contribute to the construction of a political and social project for the work of psychologists.