O dispositivo carcerário e seus transbordamentos: etnografia sobre as experiências de mulheres que “passam” pela prisão

Abstract

This thesis uses as a reference the experiences of women who “pass through” prison, from the perspective that understands prison as more than a space of confinement. The aim of this research was to answer the following question: how do the trajectories and paths of women who “go through” the prison experience help us understand aspects of the prison system itself and its overflows? The objective was to demonstrate that, faced with the fixity of incarceration, the barriers that limit the territory of the prison are dissolved, revealing mobilities that (re)configure the surroundings and that are the result of the flow of information that enters and leaves, the supply of food, medicine, personal hygiene materials, among other objects, the articulation of legal issues, family visits and the interactions that are established between the imprisoned women among themselves, in their relationships with their families and in the ongoing negotiations with the institution. The ethnographic context of the research was women who are deprived of their liberty in the Regional Prison of Bagé – PRB, from 2022 to 2024. Thus, the analysis focused on aspects of the prison system itself and its overflows, revealed by the experiences of women who “pass through” the prison, based on the dynamics resulting from the flows of people, information, objects, discourses and norms, beyond the physical limit of its walls, thus (re)designing the contemporary prison. An analytical perspective was developed that incorporates the social dynamics external to the prison, through a multi-situated approach, which considers the power relations that influence the internal functionality of the penal establishment and its overflows, revealing a complex game of interactions between the inside and outside of the prison. It was perceived that there is an inseparable link, a dynamic relationship between those who are segregated there and the broader society, which is why ethnographic work was chosen. Ethnography, therefore, allowed us to pay attention to the social process of the experiences lived by women, to dialogue with the interlocutors, to observe paths and trajectories, to know relationships, to discover subjectivities, to apprehend and describe the context and, also, to understand the social system of communication that is configured between the prison and the city, for a better understanding of the phenomenon studied.