Tocar uma cadeia: a gestão neoliberal do sofrimento carcerário

Abstract

This thesis aims to understand the work of prison wardens from two perspectives: that of prison units and that of the coordenadorias of prison units in the interior of São Paulo. From these two spheres, we seek to analyze how their professional identities and career trajectories are constructed, as well as to investigate the formal and informal selection processes that enable hierarchical progression in these environments. The central hypothesis defended is that neoliberalism has significantly impacted prison management practices, increasing the distance between prison units and administration. This is materialized through a work model that prioritizes the production of indicators and targets, which often fail to meet the actual needs of prison units.

To achieve this objective, a qualitative approach was adopted, with an emphasis on autoethnography, ethnography, interviews, and field observation. As a result, it was found that the regionalization of the coordenadorias, stemming from the expansion of penitentiary bureaucracy, has turned into a "factory of metrics," demanding targets from prison units that are often impossible to measure. Consequently, prison wardens end up becoming administrators of carceral suffering, which reveals itself not only as a byproduct of incarceration institutions but also as an object of disputes over the definition of what it means to be a good professional in this field.