Transition House: Structuring Processes

From 2005 to 2008, the Opportunities Project aimed to find innovative ways to reintegrate prisoners and ex-prisoners into society. One of the main problems identified, the absence of a family and housing structure upon the return of these individuals to active life, led to the creation of the Transition House, integrated in 2008 into the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, one of the promoters of this project. Here, the mission, the approach methodology, and the work processes of this facility focused on supporting the social reintegration process after imprisonment in a correctional facility are presented, which, in 2012, came to have two housing spaces: the Opportunities House and the Active Life House, the first intended for individuals with the possibility of parole or at the end of their sentence but without residential and socio-family support, the second for people with a long history of institutionalization and in a situation of social vulnerability, thus preventing recidivism. This book is part of the Social Action Sebentas Collection, an editorial line dedicated to sharing knowledge acquired and consolidated through practice, with the awareness, however, that this knowledge is always under continuous construction and improvement.

Authors: Rita Valadas (dir.); Celeste Brissos (coord.); Rui Santos; Bruno Caldeira and team

Year of publication: 2016
Publisher: SCML
ISBN: 9789898712363