The main objective of the rehabilitation and conversion project for the former prison in Santarém is the complete rehabilitation of the buildings and their extension so that they can be transformed for use as university student residences. The building is located on a plot of land with an area of 21,181 m2 and an implantation area of 4,017 m2 and has a total area of 7,686 m2, divided into three different floors, one of which covers the building. The building that was the subject of the intervention was developed on the basis of a model project for a district penitentiary by engineer Ricardo Júlio Ferraz. The design of the building took into account the ideology of the penitentiary system of 19th century liberalism – the regeneration of prisoners through the obligation of isolation and silence, along with isolated or collective labour.