The dynamics of re-socialization in Brazil: an investigation into the rehabilitation through reading

• In Event: Penology panel

Abstract

The research is part of studies on the Brazilian prison system, considering prison institutions, criminal law, the judicial system and the relational set of individuals who are part of it. More specifically, the research is concerned with the rehabilitative ideal, in dialogue with the ideas of the punitive turn and the new penalogy. The main hypothesis is that the transformations in the Brazilian prison system, with the change in the way the incarcerated population is conceived by the state, by the laws, by public policies and by civil society itself, which have come to treat them, albeit in a still incipient way, as a social group that is also subject to rights, have had significant effects on local punitive dynamics. The empirical research thus turned to characterizing the dimension of resocialization, reintegration and reducation - the so-called “res universe” - in the Brazilian prison system. More specifically, the institute of rehabilitation through reading was studied in the states of São Paulo and Santa Catarina, as well as legislative proposals and projects in this regard. Interviews were also conducted with judges and former prisoners. As a partial result, a growing investment and encouragement of the rehabilitative ideal was observed, despite the local punitive culture.

Authors

• Maiara Corrêa, Center for the Studies Of Violence, University of São Paulo (NEV-USP)

• Marcos César Alvarez, University of São Paulo