THE PRACTICE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN PRISON: WHAT CONDEMNED THINK ABOUT IT?

Abstract

This is a descriptive exploratory research, with a qualitative approach, held at the Regional Industrial Penitentiary in the city of Sobral – Ceará - Brazil, in which it aimed to identify what the inmates think about the practice of physical activity in a maximum-security penitentiary system. A semi-structured interview was used to collect the data. As participants in this research, 20 incarcerated inmates in that prison where interviewed. In the empirical data analysis, the technique of categorization speeches was used. The research findings indicated these categories: physical activity in prison, knowledge of rules and fundamentals of sports, inmate’s behavior during the practice of a regular physical activity and social behavior inside the prison. It was evident from the results that the practicing of physical activity and sport are seen as a benefit by inmates during the execution of their sentence, but realize that the lack of knowledge of sports and their rules puts them at a disadvantage and can lead to inadequate behavior during practice of such activities. It is hoped that this research can effectively contribute so that they are able to reconcile and follow the rules and regulations in force after serving their sentence.