O Presídio Político da Ilha Anchieta (1931-1942): comunistas, “indesejáveis” e “trabalhadores” sob sigilo em Ubatuba

Abstract

This thesis aimed to investigate the historical period between the years 1931 and 1942 of the current Parque Estadual da Ilha Anchieta (PEIA), when was in place the Presídio Político da Ilha dos Porcos (1931-1934), the Colônia Correcional da Ilha Anchieta (1934-1939) and the Presídio Político da Ilha Anchieta (1939-1942). As this is the first academic research about the above mentioned period, the primary purpose was to describe, in a detailed and critical manner, the pieces of information identified by the documents, within the material possibilities of the multiple sources consulted. The secondary purpose was to investigate the profile of the individuals transferred to these incarceration institution to comprehend the role of the same institution at the multiple social and political context of São Paulo state during the historical period and the daily events that involved that entire population: detainees, civil servents, militaries from Força Pública and their respective relatives. After the investigation, it was possible to determine that the Presidio Político da Ilha dos Porcos (1931-1934) received at least twenty-five (25) national and foreign detainees for political activities and among them are important members of the Partido Communista do Brazil (PCB), as well as the secretary of the União dos Operários em Fábricas de Tecidos (UOFT), the largest union in the state at that time. It was also possible to identify cases of Brazilians detained in Ilha dos Porcos who, shortly afterward, were deported outside national borders, from the states of Matto Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul. It was also revealed that, at least between September 1934 and January 1936, the Colony was illegally reactivated: without regulation and an ordinance from the government, it worked under “secrecy” in portion of the civilians detained there before the Judiciary, the Executive and even part of the São Paulo police itself at a time when Brazil was already under the democratic regimen of the 1934 Constitution. For the third period, from 1939-1942, the moment of the political prison, it was possible to identify detainees that were arrested under the justification of “estado de emergência” [state of emergency] and “manutenção da ordem pública” [Maintenance of public order], reports of forced labor, the presence of military personnel affiliated to Ação Integralista Brasileira (AIB) serving in the deployment of Força Publica and the increase in the number of deaths in the early 1940s, which may have accelerated the process of transforming that space into the Instituto Correcional da Ilha Anchieta (ICIA). During this period the island not only received communists, integralists and all categories of detainees but also “dementes” [person with dementia] and “mendigos” [beggar]. Thus, I argue that Ilha Anchieta was the institution of maximum confinement in the state of São Paulo, playing the role of “válvula de escapamento para casos insolúveis” [exhaust valve for insoluble cases] based on police actions that practiced a “serviço de saneamento” [sanitation service] and “profilaxia social” [social prophylaxis] in the urban environment of São Paulo and Santos. To this end, this research explores, in a pioneering way, the archive of the Parque Estadual da Ilha Anchieta (PEIA) and different collections already known from the Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo (APESP), mainly that of the Departamento Estadual de Ordem Política e Social (DEOPS) and of the Academia de Polícia Civil (Acadepol). In addition, the research for newspapers of the time from the Hemeroteca da Biblioteca Nacional Digital (BNDigital) from Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (FBN), in addition to the research on state legislation in the historical collection of the Assembleia Legislativa do Estato de São Paulo (ALESP) and research in the Diário Oficial do Estado de São Paulo (DOSP), based on the archives from Imprensa Oficial.