Mental health of transgender women in prison at the state of Pará

Abstract

There is a precariousness in the mental health of trans women in the Brazilian prison reality, especially in Pará, when compared to the general community, whether incarcerated or not. This study aims to analyze the impacts on the mental health of formerly incarcerated trans women, based on accounts of their experiences of imprisonment in prisons in the state of Pará. This is a qualitative and descriptive study which carried out semi-structured interviews with two transsexual women from the state of Pará who had experienced at least one month in prison. The material produced in the interviews was analyzed using the content analysis technique. As a result, it was possible to observe that transsexual women are not seen as worthy of attention and care by the institutional agents responsible for their detention, in the process of imprisonment, in order to guarantee them assistance that meets their basic and particularitie needs. Devaluation, disqualification and the process of subjectivation through cis-heterocentrism and cis-heteroideology are disseminated and practiced, making it essential to discuss and understand the processes of experience of the trans population, who live in a situation of the violence that is taking place in this environment and to analyze the impacts on their mental health. Therefore, this incarceration policy appears to be inefficient and negative, since it is an obligation of the state, guaranteed in the Federal Constitution and international protection documents.   Keywords: Transgender Women; Prison system; Mental health.