Penitenciária aberta do sertão: entre a construção e a submersão (1970-1988).

Abstract

In this work we analyze the construction and eviction of the first open penitentiary in the hinterland, built in Floresta, a Brazilian city in the state of Pernambuco, on the banks of the São Francisco River, during the 1970s, extending our reflections until its complete flooding, in 1988., due to the Itaparica dam. This construction, as well as other smaller ones, set between the countryside and the Pernambuco hinterland, aimed to decentralize the penitentiary system in the city of Recife. For this, it used a variety of sources, from newspapers with large regional circulation, such as Diario de Pernambuco, to periodicals and magazines from the then capital of Brazil, such as Jornal do Brasil, Revista Manchete and O Cruzeiro. In addition to the press, digitized documents were used and available on the websites of the companies responsible for the works on the Itaparica dam, such as Chesf and Codevasf, in addition to the pertinent legislation. As theoretical-methodological contributions, we also make use of some reflections or methodological tips from authors such as Michel Foucault and Erving Goffman, especially to think about confinement institutions and the disciplinary regime, and Tânia de Luca regarding the use of journals. To think about the northeast region and the dams, we used authors such as Luciano Menezes, Juracy Marques and Alfredo Almeida. We verified that “prison modernity” arrived in the hinterland and, paradoxically, was quickly destroyed by the waters of the Itaparica dam. The booklet that will support the results achieved is divided into three parts: 1) a Pernambuco prison panorama in the 1970s; 2) the idealization and construction of the Floresta penitentiary; 3) and its deactivation in “down the water”.