Educational leisure in penitentiary spaces:

sport, culture and recreation in social reintegration processes

Abstract

This paper addresses a reality insufficiently studied in penitentiary centers: the impact of participation in leisure, sports, and cultural activities on the desistance process of incarcerated individuals and as a protective factor against committing new crimes. It was carried out in one of the eight ordinary regime penitentiary centers that the Generalitat of Catalonia (Spain) has in its territory. In this exploratory research, a quantitative design was chosen to allow a static, confirmatory reading of the benefits of leisure, sports, and cultural activities in penitentiary contexts, focusing on improving competencies that benefit desistance processes. The results show the perceived benefits by the incarcerated individuals and how these influence positive identity construction processes. Some recommendations derived from the results obtained are provided, which may suggest actions in penitentiary treatment and the design of public policies.