Na gaiola o canto dos pássaros ecoa: os impactos do punitivismo na vida de mulheres familiares de homens presos

Abstract

The Brazilian prison system, known for its overcrowding and inhumane conditions, has a significant impact on the lives of women who have family members who are deprived of their liberty. These women face not only the suffering caused by the absence of their relatives, but also social stigmatization, which places them in a position of constant struggle and resistance. They play a central role in maintaining emotional ties and facing the multiple adversities imposed by a system that operates more on the logic of punishment than protection. The dissertation analyzes how these women, often rendered invisible, reorganize themselves in the face of the structural and symbolic limitations imposed on them. The way in which they preserve family connections while developing strategies for survival and collective organization. The support networks they form not only help them deal with the practical and emotional demands of the prison context, but also emerge as tools for resistance and resignification. These practices directly challenge the punitive and oppressive logic of the prison system, while also proposing new forms of existence. The intersectional markers of race, class and gender that permeate the experiences of these women were explored, highlighting how these intersections amplify the barriers they face. Black and peripheral women, in particular, experience a double marginalization: the criminalization of their loved ones and the racial and social prejudice that permeates their trajectories. Despite these challenges, they seek ways to subvert the power structures that perpetuate inequality. These actions do not fail to highlight the current system, even when seeking alternatives. With this work, I intend to make the perspective of these women viable, emphasizing that their actions transcend care and are configured as political expressions and of social transformation. These women, by demanding the right to exist fully and by fighting for the dignity of their family members, expose the incompatibility of a system that privileges control over social support and are faced with the limitation of political emancipation. By analyzing their stories and their resistance practices, we hope to contribute to a more in-depth debate on the dynamics of the prison system and on the ways in which female family members of men in prison and those released from the prison system have been marginalized.