At the borders of the pavilion: an ethnography at CCPJ in Imperatriz-MA

Abstract

This article aims to analyze strategies for maintaining the self in a situation of incarceration. To this end, we use a Gof- fmanian contribution to analyze the Central de Custódia de Pre- sos da Justiça de Imperatriz (CCPJ-ITZ), a prison unit with the largest closed prison population, in the interior of the state of Ma- ranhão. Guided by the notions of Total Institution and secondary adjustments, three years of research were carried out, with the production of 42 photographic records, field notes, informal dia- logues, walks and direct observations. More than a process of social construction of prisoners, we see that there is a process of cultural change that simply cannot be labeled, completely, as prisoner or freed. To demonstrate this hypothesis, the article will bring situations that demonstrate, in depth, the tensions between institutional objectivity and subjectivities of inmates, focusing on the theoretical debate and the detailed study of a pavilion and a cell.