PRISON BENEFIT AND PRISON REGIMES: SOCIAL VULNERABILITY AND PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIAL SECURITY LAW PRISON BENEFIT AND PRISON REGIMES: SOCIAL VULNERABILITY AND PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIAL SECURITY LAW

Abstract

This paper seeks to identify and critically analyze the changes promoted by Constitutional Amendment No. 103/2019 in relation to prison assistance—a social security benefit aimed at prisoners' dependents. The right to this benefit has been mitigated by the imposition of new requirements that have led to the distortion of prison assistance and its departure from its main function - social protection - insofar as they restrict the benefit to dependents of prisoners serving sentences in closed prisons, removing the possibility of granting the benefit to those in semi-open prisons. These changes directly affect the prisoners' dependents, increasing their social vulnerability, because in addition to dealing with prejudice, discrimination, and financial difficulties, they face a lack of information and bureaucracy, which prevents them from claiming their rights. However, it should be noted that, for events prior to the Social Security Reform, the acquired right remains valid, validated by the principle of “tempus regit actum,” which allows for the granting or maintenance of benefits for closed and semi-open regimes linked to the date of the event. However, the lack of information continues to be an obstacle to accessing social security benefits.