Disegnare per ricostruire. Studio pilota sul riconoscimento delle risorse interne ed esterne dei detenuti in una Casa Circondariale

Drawing to reconstruct. Pilot study on acknowledging prisoners’ internal  and external resources in a penitentiary institution Since the first offender rehabilitation treatments, all theoretical approaches have been focused on reducing risk factors that may influence recidivism, without obtaining  good results. Recent resilience researches have instead shown the important mediating or moderating role of protective factors and provided the theoretical principles for the Good Lives Model Comprehensive (GLM-C). This holistic model suggests the importance of integrating the reduction of risk factors with the reinforcement of protective factors in offender treatments programmes. This combined action is considered the main condition through which offenders are motivated to change their life and develop a sense of agency on their current life conditions. This paper presents a pilot study, aimed at analyzing the feasibility of a psychosocial intervention, based on graphic workshops. The purpose of the intervention is helping prisoners striving toward adaptation in jail, and facilitating the redesign of their life beyond bars. The drawing activities allowed the prisoners enhancing their own internal and external resources, and recognizing the  risk and protective factors that could influence their successful reintegration into society. The main limit of this study is directly linked to the setting of the penitentiary institution where the study was conducted, which is characterized by a high prisoners’ turn over.