We present a three dimensional model for quark matter with a density depend
ent quark-quark (confining) potential, which allows to describe a sort of d
econfinement transition as the system evolves from a low density assembly o
f bound structures to a high density free Fermi gas of quarks. We consider
different confining potentials, some of which successfully utilized in hadr
on spectroscopy. We find that a proper treatment of the many-body correlati
ons induced by the medium is essential to disentangle the different nature
of the two (hadronic and deconfined) phases of the system. For this purpose
the ground state energy per particle and the pair correlation function are
investigated.