Prisión, conocimiento del hombre y disciplinas psi en EspañaLa presencia de la psicología en la Escuela de Estudios Penitenciarios durante su primera década (1940-1950)

Abstract

The concern for the training of presidial employees dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, linked to the idea of creating a normal prison that, in addition to serving as a model, were also a practical school where to acquire the necessary knowledge to work in prisons. In Spain, such an idea materialized at the beginning of the 20th century at the Escuela de Criminología (School of Criminology), then at the Instituto de Estudios Penales (Institute of Criminal Studies) and, finally, at the School of Penitentiary Studies (Escuela de Estudios Penitenciarios), heiress of the two previous institutions. The School was a professional training center for prison officers and maintained a close relationship with the university, as well as a keen interest in the study of the personality of the offender, which was reflected in the study programs and in the teaching training courses for the different prison workers categories, which included psychology and criminology content. In this article we study the teaching activity in the School regarding psychology and during its first decade. For this we use primary sources of archiving and periodicals.