A reclusão de mulheres e a indústria de reintegração

Pat Carlen*

Este artigo fala sobre as economias culturais e políticas da reclusão de mulheres e a indústria de reintegração e sobre o discurso de reabilitação na prisão, em que se baseia actualmente essa indústria. A autora apresenta quatro argumentos principais: (i) uma das principais, mas mal exploradas, causas para o rápido crescimento da população prisional feminina é o aumento exponencial da indústria internacional de reintegração; (ii) mau-grado a retórica contemporânea de reintegração, a essência da prisão consiste na sua lógica de encarceramento, o que corrompe inevitavelmente todas as tentativas de reforma na prisão; (iii) uma das razões para o rápido aumento da população prisional feminina tem subjacente a crença de que hoje a prisão é uma ferramenta multifuncional de engenharia social que serve não só para punir, mas também para fazer desaparecer as causas do crime;(iv) dado existirem razões lógicas, sociológicas, ideológicas, políticas e culturais que tornam o conceito de reintegração social através da prisão impossível, dever-se-á contestar as alegações contraditórias que repetidamente recuperam para a prisão um papel que oferece tanto o castigo como a reabilitação.

Palavras-chave: prisão; mulheres; reintegração; reabilitação.

La réclusion des femmes et l'industrie de la réintégration

Cet article se penche sur les économies culturelles et politiques de la réclusion des femmes et l'industrie de la réintégration, ainsi que sur le discours de la réhabilitation en prison qui sert actuellement de base à cette industrie. L'auteur avance quatre arguments principaux: (i) l'une des principales causes, cependant mal exploitée, de la rapide croissance de la population féminine dans les prisons est la montée exponentielle de l'industrie internationale de la réintégration; (ii) malgré la rhétorique contemporaine de la réintégration, l'essence de la prison réside dans sa logique d'emprisonnement, ce qui corrompt inévitablement toute tentative de réforme en prison; (iii) l'une des raisons de la rapide augmentation de la population féminine dans les prisons est associée à la croyance qu'aujourd'hui la prison est un outil multifonctionnel d'ingénierie sociale qui sert non seulement à punir, mais aussi à faire disparaître les causes du crime; (iv) étant donnée l'existence de raisons logiques, sociologiques, idéologiques, politiques et culturelles qui rendent impossible le concept de réintégration par le biais de la prison, il y a lieu de contester les arguments contradictoires qui restituent sans cesse à la prison son rôle tant punitif que de réhabilitation.

Mots-clé: prison; femmes; réintégration; réhabilitation.

The imprisonment of women and the reintegration industry

This article addresses cultural and economic policies regarding the imprisonment of women and the reintegration industry, plus the discourse of rehabilitation in prison on which that industry is currently based. The writer uses four main arguments: (i) one of the main, but little explored, causes for the rapid growth in the female prison population is the exponential increase in the international reintegration industry; (ii) in spite of today's rhetoric of reintegration, the essence of prison is its logic of incarceration, which inevitably corrupts all efforts at prison reform; (iii) one of the reasons for the rapid growth in the female prison population is the underlying belief that prison today is a multifunctional instrument of social engineering which serves not only as punishment, but also as a means to make the causes of crime disappear; (iv) given that there are logical, sociological, ideological, political and cultural reasons for why the idea of social reintegration through prison is an impossibility, we should challenge the contradictory statements which consistently see a punishment role as well as a rehabilitation role for prison.

Keywords: prison; women; reintegration; rehabilitation.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

Full text only available in PDF format.

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* Universidade de Keele.