The Portuguese prison service is placed under the authority of the General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP). Sentences, whether custodial or not, have been managed by a single department since 2012 (Legal Decree n° 63/2012).

There are three detention regimes:

• the common regime
• the open regime
• the security regime

Article 12 of the Code of enforcement of custodial sentences and measures states the technical details and characteristics for each regime.

Persons detained under the common regime serve their sentence in high-security establishments or facilities. Activities and communal life take place within the prison facility.

Persons detained under an open regime serve their sentence in medium-security establishments or facilities. Engagement with the outside community is encouraged. There are two facets to the open regime:

• The “open regime on the inside” whereby activities take place within the establishment (or close by) and are subject to direct and continuous surveillance.
• The “open regime on the outside” whereby activities take place outside the facility and do not require surveillance.

Persons detained under the security regime serve their sentence in ‘special’ establishments or facilities. Daily life, activities and links to the outside community are limited. Review of this form of custody takes place every six months (every three months for youths under 21). The decision to place or maintain a person under the security regime or to end such detention is taken by the director of the DGRSP.

The DGRSP distinguishes between two types of prison establishment following the criteria of “complexity of management” :

• Highly complex establishments
• Establishments of average complexity Complexity of management is defined by the level of security - special, high or medium - the implemented programmes, the characteristics of the population and the number of people who stay there (circular n°13/2013).

The approved school of Leiria houses minors and young adults. Eight educational centres cater to minors aged 12 to 16 committed to public education (See section on minors)

The size of Portuguese prisons varies according to the type of facility.

Medium-security prisons hold up to 350 places. The Cadeia de Apoio da Horta (Support prison of Horta), administratively part of Prison Angra do Heroísmo, is the smallest prison (17 places).

High-security prisons range from 169 (Súbal Prison) to 887 places (Lisbon Prison).

For prison officers, access to the profession is subject to competitive examinations and training, under the authority of the Ministry of Justice (Prison Officers Statute).

Training includes theoretical and on-the-job practical training lasting six months with sandwich courses. Competitive examinations are open to candidates who satisfy the following requirements:

• Portuguese nationals
• aged from 21 to 28 in the year of the competitive examination
• measuring at least 1.60 metres for females or 1.65 metres for males
• holding the equivalent of the secondary school diploma (usually obtained at 18, at the end of compulsory education)
• with no criminal record
• in “good physical condition”
• up-to-date for all the mandatory vaccinations

The functions of prison staff are the following:

• surveillance staff (Corpo da Guarda Prisional - CGP), constitute the greater majority of personnel (63.2% in 2017)
• administrative staff (data processing, registrar, financial management…)
• socio-educational staff
• health personnel
• management¹.