ENTRE GRADES E POSSIBILIDADES, O PROJETO DE VIDA COMO ESTRATÉGIA PSICOLÓGICA NO CONTEXTO CARCERÁRIO: RELATO DE EXPERIÊNCIA

Abstract

This paper presents an account of an experience developed during the mandatory internship IB and IIB: Emphasis on Psychology and Educational, Social Protection, and Developmental Processes of the Psychology program at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, carried out in a medium-security male penitentiary in 2024. The study aimed to critically analyze psychological practice within the prison context, describing the intervention process conducted with seven incarcerated participants over eleven meetings guided by the concept of life project. The meetings included interviews, group dynamics, trajectory analysis, written productions, and reflective exercises based on Social Psychology, seeking to promote self-knowledge, the re-signification of experiences, and the development of future perspectives. The results showed that, despite the structural and institutional limitations imposed by incarceration, the space of listening enabled subjective expression and symbolic strengthening of the participants, fostering the construction of meaning amid the deprivation of freedom. The experience also contributed to the trainee’s critical-formative development by articulating theory, practice, and ethical-political commitment in the work within total institutions. It is concluded that the life project proved to be a potential psychological strategy to expand symbolic autonomy, challenge punitive logic, and reaffirm the centrality of human rights in psychological intervention in the prison system.