The study involved provisional detainees from two Curitiba police stations, state of Paraná, Brazil, one for males and one for females, to explore gender differences in this environment and to develop strategies to include gender in addressing this population in primary care. It was a qualitative study based on participant observation keeping a field diary, and 26 transcribed open interviews (13 male and 13 female), transformed into narratives and later into a grid for analysis. The female environment was more welcoming, and the perception of health-disease assumed a more strictly biological character for men, while women had more expanded concepts. Women missed the independence to seek medical attention because, unlike men, they were used to go to the Basic Health Unit before prison. Environment, control and relationships, as well as the perception of the health-disease process had gender differences.
Gender; Health-disease perception; People deprived of freedom; Prisoners