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Portugal

Capital city — Lisbon

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Panorama

Latest updates

There are designated places for physical activities and sports

yes

  • In 2017, the prison population (12,991 prisoners) had access to 304 sports activities. Indoor football, table tennis, volleyball and soccer are the main sports.

    i
    2018
    / Directorate General of Reintegration and Prison Services, “Status and self-evaluation report 2017", pp. 106-107.

Persons who are addicted to drugs can benefit from a substitution program (methadone, subutex, antagonists, suboxone).

  • In December 2017, 1,062 people were receiving substitution treatment. The programmes are implemented in collaboration with the national health service.

    i
    2017

Persons suffering from mental disorders are detained in facilities within prisons or in psychiatric hospitals.
Since 1998, the São João de Deus Prison Hospital has had a psychiatry and mental health department. It provides clinical assistance, outpatient care and hospitalization of patients. The service has 18 beds for men and eight for women.
Santa Cruz do Bispo - Men Prison has a psychiatric ward with 73 individual cells, nine dormitories and a double cell for prisoners with mental disorders.

  • One hundred and thirty-seven people with mental disorders were serving their sentences in psychiatric hospitals in December 2017.

    i
    2018
    / Directorate General for reintegration and penal services,
    “Report on activities and self-assessment, 2017", p. 49.

There are designated places for cultural activities

yes

  • In 2017, the prison population had collective access to 439 social and cultural activities. Activities “for the purpose of information” such as those encouraging reading and writing, are the most prevalent within the facilities. Together, debating, reading and writing represent 42.8% of organised activities.

    i
    2018
    / Directorate General of Reintegration and Prison Services, “Status and self-evaluation report 2017", pp. 103-105.

The prison service offers activities to prisoners

yes

The prisoners have access to sports, and social and cultural activities. External educational, cultural, artistic or sports entities organise social or cultural activities in prison. In 2017, there were 282 entities for social and cultural activities, and 112 for physical and sports activities.

  • In 2017, there were 282 entities for social and cultural activities, and 112 for physical and sports activities.

    i
    2018
    / General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Services, “Activity and self-assessment report 2017", p. 103.

Overcrowding is an issue for specific types of prison facilities

yes

Overcrowding affects average-complexity establishments.

  • High-complexity establishments held 10,262 people in November 2018. There are 21 of them. The occupancy rate of these establishments is 96.2%. In November 2018, average-complexity establishments, held 2,672 people. There are 27 of them. The occupancy rate is 109.6%.

    i
    2018
    / General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Services, "[Biweekly statistics by type of establishment] (https://dgrsp.justica.gov.pt/Estat%C3%ADsticas-e-indicadores/Prisionais/2018-Quinzenais)"