This is a qualitative research whose objective was to identify the patients' of a Hospital of Custody and Psychiatric Treatment (HCPT) located in Florianópolis, view on the institution. The data were collected in 2004, through semi-structured interviews and participant observation. They were analyzed by establishing a parallel between the studies of Goffman on total institution and the norms recommended by the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform. Most of the interviewees referred to be HCPT as a cross between hospital and prison, predominantly of a custodial character. The treatments and the operational conditions of the institution were also questioned by the patients. The conclusion is that the institutional conditions reveal to be way different to the ones considered ideal by the Psychiatric Reform, a situation which demands the adaption of such conditions to the recommendations of the new paradigm on patient care to the mentally-ill.
Hospital; Patients; Mental Health