Ethnography of a Privatized Prison

Humanization as a Management Problem, Recruitment as a Matter of Trust

Abstract

This article is the partial result of ethnographic research conducted in a privately managed prison in the state of Sergipe. The aim was to analyze how the private sector modeled the demands for humanization of Sergipe's prisons as a management problem and created a “model prison” based on increased control and discipline over prisoners and the provision of so-called “hotel services” (hygiene, food, accommodation). Another characteristic of this model is the recruitment of outsourced workers, which is based on personal and informal relationships that strengthen the ties between the prison and society. For this part of the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted within the prison unit with managers and workers from the private sector, as well as with prison police officers who work under the co-management regime. In a complementary sense, a survey and analysis were also carried out of the contract signed between the company and the State of Sergipe and its relationship of adequacy to the institutional guidelines outlined nationally after the Carandiru Massacre, since one of the hypotheses guiding the work is that these guidelines have already been, to a large extent, assimilated by the private sector.