Education and prison system: The perception of freedom-deprived women

Abstract

This article aims at highlighting the perception of women in the Female Prison Unit of Cáceres-MT/BR on education, and the question to be answered is: what is the perception that women deprived of liberty in the female prison of Cáceres have about education, especially in prison? The study is descriptive, of a Case Study type and uses a qualitative approach. The place of investigation was the Cáceres-MT/BR Prison Unit. Information was collected in interviews with five women, selected through the following criteria: convicted; residents of Cáceres; mothers with school-age children and involved in school activities in the Prison Unit. We used Laurence Bardin's Content Analysis technique applied to the systematization of the interview data, organized according to the following thematic axes: Crime, Prison System, Family, from which fragments related to the registration unit “education” were extracted. One of the results of the study points out that women deprived of their freedom express hope and interest in education (schooling and/or vocational courses), not only with the objective of remission, but as an instrument for the improvement of their living conditions when they return to society.