Abstract
The aim of this manuscript is to understand the changes in the prison policies of the State of São Paulo over the last three decades, based on a case study of the town of Itirapina, located in the central region of the state. The state prison policy prioritized decentralization of prisons along with mass incarceration. In the past 25 years, more than 100 new prisons were built in smaller, interior cities west of the capital while the prison population grew by five times. The town of Itirapina was affected by this policy of “prison decentralization”. In Itirapina, two prison facilities were installed at different times, twenty years apart, so the town of Itirapina presents peculiarities in the prison context of the entire country. Therefore it is possible to observe the existence of two prisons established with distinct models and philosophies. Specifically, it is possible to observe that those involved – either directly or indirectly – with prison’s daily life in Itirapina, have different perceptions and relationships with each of the prisons. This analysis points out the changes in São Paulo State incarceration policy directives, in line with the changes that occurred worldwide. The ideal of punishment as social rehabilitation of prisoners fell into decline, giving way to policies of accelerated imprisonment, and the expansion of the prison system into the countryside municipalities. The conclusion presents how the presence of prisons impacts social interactions in these smaller towns and reorders moral values.
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Notes
At once recent count from Secretaria de Adminsitração Penitenciária de São Paulo – SAP. Accessed 24 April 2015.
The Law n° 7210 of July 11, 1984 (LEP) guides the Execution of Sentences of Imprisonment in Brazil.
All research conducted in the press archives of Itirapina were made in “Jornal da Região”, since that from late 70s to mid-2000s, this was the only newspaper with uninterrupted circulation in the city, and its publication remains to today.
Year in which the first copies of the newspaper began to be organized in files.
The temporary release of prisoners is granted at certain times of the year and is a right provided under LEP -Law n° 7210 of July 11, 1984 which guides the Execution of Sentences of Imprisonment in Brazil.
According to a study by Goes (1991), the first rebellion that occurred in the State Penitentiary, after the start of tenure of Franco Montoro, was stimulated by agents opposed to the “humanization” policies and was meant to erode them.
In this episode, which occurred in the prison of the 42nd Police Department of São Paulo in 1989, 18 prisoners died from suffocation because they were put together with 33 more inmates, for hours, in a cell with no ventilation, measuring 17 square meters.
This is the official figure released by the government at the time; however, surviving prisoners themselves have stated that the death toll is much higher.
With the whole process of mass incarceration and internalization of prisons, inmates were increasingly sent to prisons far from their hometowns, making their families travel on weekends to visit.
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This article will present some results from a Master’s degree thesis, which was published as a book with the title: Dias de visita: uma sociologia da punição e das prisões, publisher Alameda, 2012. The book was published only in Portuguese and this article will bring some of the results obtained from the research in English.
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Silvestre, G. Local consequences of the prison policies in state of São Paulo, Brazil: a case study of the town of Itirapina. Crime Law Soc Change 65, 269–285 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-015-9583-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-015-9583-5