Human rights applied in the context of prison and the city

The city and the prison are two important places for the materialisation of human rights. The city is the space in which people live, work, study, socialise and carry out their daily activities. It is in this space that human rights are most directly experienced and can be guaranteed or violated. For example, the right to freedom of expression can be exercised in the city through public demonstrations, debates, publications and other forms of cultural expression. The right to adequate housing is also exercised in the city, as people need a place to live in dignity. Prison, on the other hand, is a place where human rights are often violated. People deprived of their liberty are in a vulnerable situation and exposed to various types of violence, such as torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. It is therefore essential that people deprived of their liberty have their human rights guaranteed, such as access to dignified treatment, health, food, access to education and culture, and the right to a fair trial.
Therefore, both the city and the prison are important places for the materialisation of human rights, and it is necessary to adopt public policies and practices that guarantee the effectiveness of these rights in these spaces.

From this perspective, this research proposal intertwines the two spaces from the perspective of human rights, looking in particular at how certain peripheral neighbourhoods nourish the demographic density of the prison, which is a kind of microcosm of the city that houses it.

Leading Research Group: Persons