Abstract

It is a project about life trajectories of foreign inmates in Portuguese prisons' context. Considering the lack of studies about female criminality and imprisonment and the rising proportion of foreign inmates among prison population, in Portugal and abroad (Estatísticas da Justiça; Hostettler & Achermann, 2008), it is of master importance to develop an empirical approach to this issue. The objectives of the research are to characterize the evolution and the current status of foreign female population in Portuguese prisons, and to analyze these women's life trajectories and prison experiences. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies will be used. In a first phase of the project official statistics and inmates' processes will be analysed quantitatively (Study 1). In the second phase of the research in-depth interviews will be done to the inmates and data from the interviews will be analysed qualitatively (Study 2). It is expected that the results of the research contribute to the comprehension of life trajectories and imprisonment experiences of foreign female inmates, including gender issues pointed out as important in the trajectories of women in prison (e.g., Matos, 2008). This comprehension will allow the elaboration of intervention proposals aimed at improving the conditions under which foreign inmates are imprisoned in Portuguese context.