Mental health, human rights and penal system: reinventing extension in desmedited pandemic times

Abstract

From a problematization of the notion of dangerousness and the security measure device, this manuscript aims to bring to light experiences of an extension program based on the association between mental health, human rights, and the penal system. With the novel coronavirus pandemic, the program actions were restructured, now focusing on the training-intervention of students and professionals. Based on the methodological perspective of research-intervention, the extension promoted a cycle of dialogues with interviews of professionals who work with the Program’s focus. Moreover, it also developed an observatory with an online repository including materials on the Program’s theme and actions and organized an online learning course on mental health, human rights, and the penal system. The access to the published content and the number of students and professionals enrolled in the course, mostly from the fields of law, psychology, and social work, indicate the interest and pertinence of actions aimed at the deinstitutionalization of security measures as a necessary theme to sustain psychiatric reform and human rights defense in the country.