Criminal execution and the perception of the work of the prison guard

Abstract

This article analyzes criminal execution and the perception of the work carried out by prison guards, after the changes promoted by Constitutional Amendment nº104, of 2019 (EC nº104/2019). The bibliographical review and field research carried out in a penitentiary institution in the state of Pará, in 2023, showed that these workers have a contradictory relationship with work. They feel power, associated with feelings of fear, insecurity, suffering and illness. That is, if on the one hand there is a feeling of power, expressed in the exercise of police power, the use of firearms, uniforms, military training and cars with identification specific to the category, on the other there is the feeling that the changes will not were enough to overcome the imprisonment of the self and the sensations of fear, suffering and illness of these workers, as they continue to carry out the activities carried out by the extinct category of prison officers, whose image was associated with violence, corruption and devalued work.