Family, childhood and adolescence: inmates’ family recollection in a Brazilian state prison

Abstract

Oftentimes a life of crime starts during adolescence, which represents a critical stage in a person's life. This exploratory descriptive study was conducted at the State Penitentiary of Maringá, Paraná, Brazil, with the objective of identifying how prison inmates recalled their families. The data was collected through a semi-structured interview of 35 informers selected by convenience. The results revealed that the vast majority of inmates had difficult childhoods and adolescences involving financial difficulties. Nevertheless, there were few the cases in which family lack of structure could be considered as being the cause of the criminal activities that ended up in prison. Therefore, is imperative that different sectors create strategies and mechanisms related to this risk population in order to reduce violence rates in our environment.