Mental health of adolescents in the juvenile detention system: the relationship between the system's staff and external mental health services

The aim of this article is to analyze how professionals in the mental health teams of the juvenile detention system in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, perceive the relations with the external Network of Psychosocial Care in dealing with mental health issues in adolescents serving time in juvenile detention centers. Nine interviews were held with mental health professionals in the system, and the results were presented with Fairclough's critical discourse analysis as the reference. The results were organized in three parts: the relationship between the juvenile detention system's mental health teams and the external services, difficulties experienced by the teams from the detention centers and the external network's services, and prospects and proposals. The logic of the arguments' development showed that the weakness in the agreements between administrators of the Brazilian Unified National Health System and the juvenile detention system has a daily impact on mental health activities conducted by the centers' teams. This scenario is aggravated by other structural problems such as lack of transportation and personnel to accompany adolescents on extramural appointments, and resistance on the part of professionals both inside and outside the detention centers. The study showed that both the adolescents and professionals were isolated in relation to mental health activities and policies.