Transformations, continuities, and tensions: the res universe in the contemporary Brazilian prison system

Abstract

The present research project is inserted in the discussion about the rehabilitating ideal in dialogue with the paradigm of a punitive turn and new penology, through the hypothesis of transformations in the prison system and the entry of certain rights and benefits in the Brazilian prison that point to a possible change in the way in which the incarcerated population is conceived by state bodies, by laws, by public policies and by civil society itself, which would start to treat it, even if still incipiently, as a social group also subject to rights. The key to entering into such a discussion will be the res universe, which refers to the concepts of reintegration, resocialization, re-education, treatment, and discipline through the institute of remission of penalty by reading, more specifically, in the Brazilian states of São Paulo and Santa Catarina. For this, the remission of penalty by reading will be pursued from its legal dimension through project proposals in the Legislative Assemblies, Chamber of Deputies, and normative texts, passing through existing programs in each of the states, with regard to the number of prisoners and participating prisoners, the durability of redemption programs, application processes and time of sentence redeemed and accepted by the judges of the respective courts of criminal execution; to, finally, reach its clientele through interviews with graduates of such programs, in order to carry out a comparative analysis between the two states. Thus, this study aims to answer whether there were transformations that allowed the rise of the res discourse and the prison policies that shape it, and how they took place. (AU)