De Pedrinhas a São Luís: o caso do Complexo Prisional Maranhense

Abstract

The Prison Complex of “Pedrinhas” – current “São Luís” – has become worldly known in mid-2013 due to recurrent episodes of rebellion, riots and violent deaths. Nowadays, it is among the three best prisons in Brazil and holds excellent rates of work and employment opportunities for inmates. From a theoretical perspective linked to what is known as the “sociology of prisons”, the central point of this paper is to understand if and how the reality of this prison complex was altered and what measures were implemented in order to achieve apparent success in restructuring the prison order after the height of the crisis. To this end, institutional documents were analyzed, such as the Precautionary and Provisional Measures issued by the Inter-American Comission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the case, respectively; as well as reports produced by related civil society organizations and the management reports drawn up by the executive of the state of Maranhão itself, through the Secretariat of Penitentiary Administration. In addition, using a semi-directive approach, six members of institutions linked to the justice system who work directly with the situation in the prison complex were interviewed to understand what, in their perception, has actually changed and what factors have made this transformation possible. The indications are that there is no single answer to what happenened and that a series of factors have come together and have been equally relevant to the changes, such as the social, political and institutional contexto. Even though the current situation is completely different from the one that prompted the international organizations to act, there are still issues related to human dignitity that are deficient in the establishment.