Habitar a Prisão, Contributos arquitectónicos para a reabilitação do indivíduo, na obra de Raul Rodrigues Lima

Abstract

The following dissertation examines what "inhabiting the prison" entails. It comprises the notion's historical and architectural development in connection with the penal functions it fostered. This context leads to a series of questions about its meaning and the ways by which designs played a role in individual regeneration - a function regarded as a key prison goal for many decades. Thus, we intend to underline the historical periods in which there were intersections with ideas of regeneration and how the latter reflected on projects, spatial design, and habitability. The research was directed more specifically to the works of Raul Rodrigues Lima (1908-1980), which stemmed from the 1936 Prison Reform and became consistent with a timeframe in which Portugal's penal and correctional system supported the idea of regenerating the inmates. To this end, the dissertation depicts two examples of prison architecture in 20th century Portugal - Cadeia Central de Mulheres, Tires (Central Correctional Facility for Women) and Colónia Penitenciária de Alcoentre, Vale de Judeus (Penitentiary Colony of Alcoentre) - in an effort to emphasize their particularizing within the context and the variety of penal functions they assumed. With supporting documentation consisting of official regulations, descriptive reports regarding the projects, and depictions of spatiality and habitability, we will underline the features that served Portugal's prison network in order to punish, intimidate and rehabilitate.