On November 7th, during the afternoon period, a visit to Prison of Santa Cruz do Bispo, in district of Porto, intended to place persons of feminine gender was undertaken. The Prison of Santa Cruz do Bispo is based in a modern building, in very good state of conservation and with goods conditions of hygiene and cleanliness. The visitation aimed at ascertaining the conditions of the alimentation sector, the conditions under which the contacts of persons deprived from their liberty with the outside are undertaken and the conditions of accommodation and treatment given to children that inhabit in the Prison. In the food sector, the kitchen spaces and the refectories of ward 1 (detention area for mothers-prisoners) and the childcare were visited. They are wide spaces with good natural lighting, well equipped and in good conditions of hygiene and cleanliness. It was confirmed the daily menu (lunch and dinner) and the conditions of diet for mothers and for children as regards their adequate alimentation. During the visitation to the detention area for mothers-prisoners (ward 1), two individual cells for mothers accompanied with children were seen. Each cell is an individual room, with natural and artificial lighting, having an iron bed with a mattress for the mother and a toddler bed with a mattress for the child. There is a private bathroom and a small bathtub for the child in each cell. In what concerns the contacts with the outside there were two telephone booths for each ward. A ward has a capacity for approximately eighty persons, each of which can make two phone calls per day lasting five minutes each. The foreign prisoners can place three phone calls. It was also mentioned that in the school sector and in the workshops there are also telephones available for use and that there are no record of any disciplinary participation arising from conflicts related to the access to the telephones. A reserved conversation was held with the prisoners accompanied with their children, no complaint has been presented either in respect to accommodation or to alimentation. The childcare facilities were visited, which include a nursery, a baby-changing room and a refectory, established in wide rooms with great natural lighting and equipped with central heating devices were. The prison management is performed in partnership with Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Porto, being part of the childcare equipment (pushchairs, playgrounds, baby chairs and others) provided by that entity. Three rooms of the childcare (the classroom of 6 months to 18 months, the classroom of 18 months to three years old, and the classroom of three to five years old), as well as the artistic expression room and the baby-changing room were visited. At the time of visitation, the childcare was occupied by 15 children. Children up to six months (2) were upon their mothers’ responsibility. During the visitation, it was found that, beside the nursery’s educational and pedagogical activities, other activities enhanced to children of ages between 2 and 5 years old are undertaken, as swimming, gymnastic, music and beach in summer months. 24 |