Participo que..: desvelando a punição intramuros

Abstract

Departing from the Sociology of Prison and the Sociology of Punishment perspectives, the present study aims at disclosing the innermost practices carried out by penal system wardens as officials of the Hélio Gomes Presídio - a penal establishment which reports to the Secretaria de Administração Penitenciária do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (the Penitentiary Administration of Rio de Janeiro State). As a methodology, one has opted to use the source of primary data provided by the Livro de Comunicação de Ocorrências / Livro de Partes Disciplinares (the logbooks containing the daily report records written down by wardens and sent over to superior officials) in the year of 2004. Mainly, one intends to know a) How, when and which are the 'leads' in order to put down as well as to enforce disciplinary sanctions; b) How is the notion of "prison discipline" evoked in such records, precisely, what is the conception behind one official to assume some acts as "against the discipline rules"; c) What is the function out of the "prison discipline" for the management of prison establishment. From such questions - and also taking into account the relationship of the prison unit with its surrounding environment - one tries to reflect over the contemporary role of the prison as a penalty in the Brazilian society.