Abstract

With the increasing number of women deprived of liberty worldwide, implementing specific strategies that should be applied to the support offered to these women are essential social measures. This study aims to analyze the supply of resources for the social reintegration of former inmates of the Brazilian prison system from a gender perspective. We propose to conduct a documentary analysis on governmental and non-governmental strategies aimed at this audience, with a gender perspective, through an analytical matrix for the 2020-2021 period. The results show several programs in the country aimed at the social reintegration of former prisoners; however, few have a gender perspective. The theme of social reintegration and the prison system was identified in 84 news items on government agencies’ websites, 20 of which were federal and 64 state, in 11 international organizations operating in Brazil, and 12 NGOs. Only six had a gender profile. The challenge for the Brazilian penitentiary system is to introduce the citizenship and human dignity approach in the prison system, including an approach to the gender issue.

Key words:
Prison System; Social reintegration; Gender; Document analysis

Introduction

From a collective health perspective and understanding that health is a condition of well-being, the relationships between prison health policies and those of social reintegration of the population deprived of liberty must be articulated. Mainly because health is a human right and, as such, belongs to everyone, without discrimination of race, gender, or social class, covering all people, including the most vulnerable and highly stigmatized populations such as people deprived of liberty¹1 World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO Prison Health Framework: a framework for assessment of prison health system performance. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2021.. On the other hand, aligned with the 2030 Agenda, which adopts the “leaving no one behind”²2 World Health Organization (WHO). Leaving no one behind in prison health: the Helsinki Conclusions. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2020. principle, the population deprived of liberty (PDL), which includes young people, women, migrants, and other sectors that are allocated in these institutions, requires specific health measures and systems to meet their needs within prisons and monitor their health in the social reintegration process. This situation implies knowing the risks of exposure to which they are subjected and the different forms of violence and injuries and promoting their adequate return to society, besides coordinated actions between government sectors and community groups to support the resumption of new ways of life³3 United Nations (UN). Handbook on Women and Imprisonment. 2ª ed. with reference to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial. Measures for Women Offenders. New York: UN; 2014..

Particular attention should be given to women deprived of their liberty when designing and implementing penal reform programs, including advocacy efforts, policies, and programs to reduce the social impact of women in prisons and organize gender-specific custody measures, review the prison system’s laws and policies, strengthen prison management, and improve living conditions in prisons, considering the particularities of this population group⁴4 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Adressing the global crisis strategy 2015-2017. New York: UNODC; 2017..

Foucault⁵5 Foucaut M. Vigiar e punir: história da violência nas prisões. Petrópolis: Ed. Vozes; 1997. argues that detention is a priority type of punishment that goes hand in hand with the transformed strategies of the power to punish that witnessed the transition from sovereign to disciplinary societies. In opposition to the power to punish - excessive, uncertain, and unequal - available in the hands of the sovereign, the need for a new economy of the power to punish became essential: to make it more regular, necessary, and universal⁶6 Foucaut M. Dos suplícios às celas. In: Motta MB, organizador. Segurança, penalidade e prisão. Rio de Janeiro: Forense Universitária; 2012. p. 32-36..

Prison, as a social space, has a field nature⁷7 Bourdieu P. El sentido práctico. Madrid: Ed. Taurus; 1991. since it is a network of objective relationships in which agents-stakeholders, incorporating their positions (with their definitions and privileges), relate to each other and establish social practices where they can perform, but which are also limited by the same rules underpinning the concrete field. Thus, the spaces-fields would be the institutions that organize the action and the social practices of their members, per schemes of thinking, feeling, and acting, some of which are specific to each concrete space-field. In this sense, the social group we call prison or jail is an institution where the specific schemes of perception, appreciation, and action are associated with the idea of punishment, retention, and reintegration. Thus, each prison forms a social field in which its individuals relate according to their positions and establish practices guided by specific schemes of thought, feeling, and action.

Related to the previous approach, the concept of habitus, also proposed by Bourdieu in 1999⁸8 Bourdieu P. Meditaciones pascalianas. Barcelona: Ed. Anagrama; 1999., allows for further considerations on how institutional schemes are incorporated by individuals and control the social dynamics of a given field. This concept is seen as a set of structures that implies the internalization of the social aspect while working as a generating and structuring principle of cultural practices and representations. The habitus is internalized by individuals through their common practices within a field, introducing a social logic that allows us to understand the dynamics of social control and the domination that some positions or classes exert on others. In this sense, Bourdieu and Passeron⁹9 Bourdieu P, Passeron JC. La reproducción. Madrid: Editorial Popular; 2001. argue that disciplinary knowledge and education systems provide individuals with a program of perception and thinking for action. While these systems do not unidirectionally determine the actions of individuals, they contribute to prioritizing their concerns. From this perspective, prisons would be places to shape habitus, and the individuals who become part of them internalize the thought/feeling/action schemes typical of that space-field. In the case of prisons, and unlike schools, this process has particularities because its social structure is based on the (real and symbolic) violence inherent to the deprivation of liberty.

It is also essential to revive the social constructionism, and symbolic interactionism approaches in this work. The former adapts to analyzing organizations as social constructions, recognizing them as social environments in which individuals act, interpret the rules, and create others through which they regulate their relationships and actions. Organizations encompass practices that, from the viewpoint of their original conception or reason for being (reasons, needs, projects, or objectives for which they were created), have an underlying or informal nature; and that they may, at some point, conflict with those. Regarding the second approach, Goffman¹⁰10 Goffman E. Internados: Ensayos sobre la situación social de los enfermos mentales. Buenos Aires: Ed. Amorrortu Editores; 1972. referred to his study on institutional organizations and subcultures in mental health institutions. This author claims that we are governed by the situation in which we find ourselves; it is not the self that expresses itself in a situation; instead, it is the situation that makes the self a specific role. This author approached institutions as the total due to their totalizing tendency (as is the case of prisons), which leads them to erect an actual and symbolic barrier between the reality of this facility and that outside it, opposing or hindering the interaction between the members of both parties (closure), creating an external and internal tension. This situation happens through self-mortification, in which depression, degradation, humiliation, and profanation of the Self begin to break clear of the past. While self-mortification develops, the inmates of total institutions receive formal and informal instructions about the organizational parameters of the establishment, to which they must adjust their behavior because the institution strives for individual change of personality, and to achieve this, it breaks the self-image. In this sense, we can see how the institution prepares inmates to start living under “the house’s rules”¹¹11 Goffman E. A representação do eu na vida cotidiana. Petrópolis: Ed. Vozes; 1995..

In turn, those living inside are locked and stigmatized by the external society. Goffman¹²12 Goffman E. Estigma: notas sobre a manipulação da identidade deteriorada. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editores; 1982. argues that stigma is a bodily sign that acts as an element of discredit, as it provides a social identity that leads to a negative valuation. The social environment creates categories of identity to which different values are attributed to individuals. Stigma operates as a brand negatively evaluated by the “normal”. The “normal” (as opposed to the “abnormal” or “pathological” such as those hospitalized in psychiatric institutions) is the concept that Goffman¹²12 Goffman E. Estigma: notas sobre a manipulação da identidade deteriorada. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editores; 1982. chooses to speak of those people who, in a given context, do not have any stigma. Stigma is relational, a social product, and as such, it has been built throughout history. Starting from this benchmarking framework, the methodological proposal of Anthropology consists of an approach to organizations at the local level to know their realities and dynamics and, through analysis, link these realities to their broader sociocultural contexts.

Following this logic, we can identify that many of the hardships experienced by people deprived of liberty (PDL) during incarceration are often perpetuated during social reintegration after serving a sentence. Thus, the resources and efforts directed towards social, psychological, and health support must be available throughout the process. However, although these tools are necessary for elaborating public policies aimed at this group, they could be more robust and sufficient. Besides the lack of collaboration between prison authorities and civil, social, and health services, discrimination and stigma hinder access to employment and education due to criminal history³3 United Nations (UN). Handbook on Women and Imprisonment. 2ª ed. with reference to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial. Measures for Women Offenders. New York: UN; 2014.^,1313 Ricciardelli R, Mckendy L. Women parolees' mental health in the context of reintegration. Crim Behav Ment Health 2020; 30(6):303-311.. The Brazilian Penitentiary System, in general, does not prioritize a policy with a gender approach due to its various deficiencies, which causes gaps in the social reintegration of women deprived of their liberty. The gender approach is vital so that the particularities of women can be considered in the social reintegration measures offered by governmental and non-governmental institutions¹⁴14 Burch M. (Re)entry from the Bottom Up: Case Study of a Critical Approach to Assisting Women Coming Home from Prison. Critical Criminology 2017; 25(3):357-374.

15 Julião EF. A ressocialização através do estudo e do trabalho no sistema penitenciário brasileiro [tese]. Rio de Janeiro: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; 2009.^-1616 Añaños FT, García-Vita MDM, Galán-Casado D, Raya-Miranda R. Dropout, Autonomy and Reintegration in Spain: A Study of the Life of Young Women on Temporary Release. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1359..

Social reintegration is premised on guaranteeing the humanized passage of PDLs from the correctional institution to society, considering the issues of human rights, education, and health to place individual offenders (and not the crime) at center stage. Although the challenges in social reintegration by former female inmates are similar to male’s, the intensity and multiplicity of their needs after deprivation of liberty can be very different. Discrimination and stigma in society are more frequent vis-à-vis to females due to social stereotypes. These women may be rejected by their families and, in some countries, lose their parental rights³3 United Nations (UN). Handbook on Women and Imprisonment. 2ª ed. with reference to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial. Measures for Women Offenders. New York: UN; 2014.^,1717 Flores JA, Pellico LH. A meta-synthesis of women's postincarceration experiences. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 2011; 40(4):486-496.. Therefore, a gender approach is essential in planning social reintegration.

Understanding the different experiences lived in prisons by men and women requires a gender perspective, a concept opposed to the biological determinism of sexual differentiation and based on social and relational aspects that transcend the definitions of femininity and masculinity. Gender is a social classification that overlaps with the idea of sexed bodies since anatomical sex is not a determining element of human behavior¹⁸18 Cúnico SD, Lermen HS. Prison from a gender perspective: a systematic review. Psicol Conocim Soc 2020; 10(1):205-239.. The “Doing Gender”, theory proposed by West and Zimmerman¹⁹19 West C, Zimmerman DH. Doing gender. Gender Soc 1987; 1:125-151., argues that gender is not simply what an individual is but something that an individual does by interacting with others. It is not an individual attribute but an individual performance and is a product of social interaction. It involves complex, socially-oriented, perceptual, interactional, and micropolitical activities that promote certain activities as expressions of masculine and feminine “natures”¹⁹19 West C, Zimmerman DH. Doing gender. Gender Soc 1987; 1:125-151.(p.126). It is about the analysis of sexual differences concerning social relationships that are permeated by power relations.

However, we note that gender alone is limited to represent the variable of social oppression in this setting since criminal selectivity does not similarly affect poor and rich white and black women. However, poor and black females are highly vulnerable, excluded, and stigmatized in a patriarchal society. Thus, the sum of this set of factors becomes apparent in the sociodemographic profile of the female prison population on the rise, and the malicious link between poverty, race, and criminality is visible²⁰20 Diniz D. Cadeia: relatos sobre mulheres. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Civilização Brasileira; 2015.^,2121 Barbosa AM, Santos SMP. Máquina do abandono: um olhar sobre a obra cadeia: relatos sobre mulheres, de Debora Diniz. Rev Debates Insubmissos 2020; 3(11):74-90.. Barbosa and Santos²¹21 Barbosa AM, Santos SMP. Máquina do abandono: um olhar sobre a obra cadeia: relatos sobre mulheres, de Debora Diniz. Rev Debates Insubmissos 2020; 3(11):74-90. affirm that those in Brazilian prisons: “Are subordinate women, discriminated against because of ethnicity, class, and gender and despised by society. These women resist in a society that ignores them, resulting in miserable survivals [...] These women slide on the margins of the social conjuncture, prisoners of their fate”. The efforts to change this situation should be proportionate to its challenges.

Before power asymmetries, it is essential to recognize that intersectionality, a concept created by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, can clarify the situation experienced by these people and then help society to understand oppressive situations and try to repair the existing reality while explaining how different social identities such as categories of ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality intersect and their oppressions are reproduced. Moreover, they are directly linked to the criminal sanctions applied to people¹⁸18 Cúnico SD, Lermen HS. Prison from a gender perspective: a systematic review. Psicol Conocim Soc 2020; 10(1):205-239..

The Brazilian incarceration rate has grown 7% yearly in the last fifteen years, ten times faster than population growth, leading the country to one of the highest incarceration rates in the world²²22 Levantamento Nacional de Informações Penitenciárias (INFOPEN). Dados sobre população carcerária do Brasil são atualizados [Internet]. 2020 [acessado 2021 out 10]. Disponível em: https://www.gov.br/pt-br/noticias/justica-eseguranca/2020/02/dados-sobre-populacao-carceraria-do-brasil-sao-atualizados.
https://www.gov.br/pt-br/noticias/justic... . Most of the PDLs in Brazil consist of young males aged 18-29 of African descent. The fastest-growing segment is that of women, and 42,355 females were incarcerated in 2016. Most female inmates were young, aged 18-29 (50%), and black (62%)²³23 Centro de Estudos de Segurança e Cidadania (CESeC). Rede de observatórios da segurança [Internet]. 2021 [acessado 2021 jul 20]. Disponível em: https://cesecseguranca.com.br/dados/.
https://cesecseguranca.com.br/dados... . Among other factors, the growth of female PDLs in the country is related to the drug law published in 2006. The legislation has gaps, and judges often opt for imprisonment even when this could be expendable. Penalty alternatives could be applied, avoiding overcrowding in prisons and the negative impact of these institutions on the lives of the women who pass through them²⁴24 Achutti DS. Justiça restaurativa e abolucionismo penal. São Paulo: Ed. Saraiva Educação S.A; 2017..

In this context, this study proposes a documentary analysis of governmental and non-governmental strategies and programs geared to the social reintegration of former inmates of the Brazilian prison system from a gender approach, through an analytical matrix built from October 2020 to October 2021.

Methods

This is a comprehensive qualitative study on the experiences and meanings of the reintegration of the prison population. A thematic documentary analysis of governmental and non-governmental strategies was performed, focusing on social reintegration strategies and programs for PDLs in the Brazilian prison system from a gender approach. This process includes two complementary stages. The first stage is descriptive and identifies the technical, political, and cultural context of the document’s elaboration and its respective codification. The second stage aims to understand the document; in other words, the authors’/producers’ interpretation of the text and the meanings identified by the researchers about the text. This second stage allows the researcher to make inferences, connections, and comparisons between documents to construct new evidence.

The evaluation of the strategies focused on the programmatic ideas with the scope of action (work/employment, family, gender, general and mental health, work seniority, expected results, and results achieved so far).

We searched for information available on the webpages of the National Council of Justice, Public Prosecutor’s Office, Justice Secretariats, State Courts of Justice, and non-governmental organizations and international organizations to collect data. We retrieved data on the available actions, their objectives, scope and implementation time, and the expected and achieved results in the 2020-2021 period.

The works published on the websites were read in full. The papers on the social reintegration of PDLs were categorized per the analysis protocol used for data collection, considering the title, publication date, editorial, and description of the social reintegration strategies. The measures proposed by the institutions were analyzed after identifying and selecting the materials that address this topic. Data processing and analysis were performed in Excel spreadsheets, and quantitative data were descriptively analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0 program.

The search was conducted concerning the available actions, objectives, scope, implementation time, and expected and achieved results. They were described in Charts, broken down by organization.

This study used only unidentifiable publicly available data. Thus, there was no need for ethical approval.

Results

The theme of social reintegration and the prison system was identified in 84 news items on the websites of the government agencies visited, 20 of which were federal and 64 state, in 11 international organizations operating in Brazil, and 12 NGOs. Since only six had a gender perspective, the topic did not show high recurrence in the search on the websites of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), National Penitentiary Department (DEPEN), Public Prosecutor’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, Justice Secretariats, State Courts of Justice, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations operating in Brazil.

The actions organized by federal agencies, mainly CNJ and DEPEN, are offered to all states. However, the implementation of actions occurs differently, with some actions well advanced in specific places and incipient or awaiting implementation in other states. The Social Office and the Começar de Novo (Start Again) are two important projects with great capillarity in the country. Data from the federal sphere are described in Chart 1.

Chart 2 describes the news regarding the strategies and programs proposed by the federative states, several related to federal programs. We found no news of specific activities organized by the states of Acre, Roraima, Rio Grande do Norte, and Alagoas.

Data referring to the news found on NGO websites are described in Chart 3. Several NGOs work in the social reintegration of former inmates in Brazil.

Chart 4 describes the actions taken by international agencies. The UNFPA presented two gender-focused programs.

Most news about social reintegration programs do not have a gender perspective, except for one by the CNJ, one by the state of Rio Grande do Sul, one by an NGO, and two by UNFPA. Most actions concern supporting the return to work activities, and some include training offered to former inmates to facilitate their return to labor.

Discussion

The results show that several programs in the country target the social reintegration of former inmates of the prison system. However, few have a gender perspective, which hinders subjects’ visibility in society. Changes are required in the current management style, evaluation and classification of programs, access to health care, and approach of women with children within the prison system, which are essential to improve the quality of life of these women and increase the likelihood of adequate and sustainable social reintegration¹1 World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO Prison Health Framework: a framework for assessment of prison health system performance. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2021.^,33 United Nations (UN). Handbook on Women and Imprisonment. 2ª ed. with reference to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial. Measures for Women Offenders. New York: UN; 2014..

The Brazilian prison system is a model whose legislation is one of the most advanced in the world because it has legal mechanisms that guarantee the resocialization of PDLs. However, the implementation of the law in the country’s reality is still problematic due to the deterioration caused by the lack of investments for the maintenance of prison services, generating overcrowding of the units and hampering resocialization measures, particularly those administered by the federative states. The challenge lies in rehabilitating individuals and reintegrating them into a society that hardly offers conditions to realize this rehabilitation²⁵25 Assis RD. A realidade atual do sistema penitenciário brasileiro. Rev CEJ 2007; 39:74-78., despite robust legislation. When comparing the reality of people released from the Brazilian prison system with the indications in the text of the law, we can observe that the authorities and society, in general, have been negligent in developing policies and programs to facilitate PDLs’ return to their communities, avoiding re-incarceration, reducing illicit drug abuse, and becoming worthy and productive members of their community²⁶26 Freudenberg N, Daniels J, Crum M, Perkins T, Richie BE. Coming home from jail: the social and health consequences of community reentry for women, male adolescents, and their families and communities. Am J Public Health 2008; 98(9 Supl.):S191-S202..

Two programs have been mentioned in several news items identified in this document analysis, covering the federal and state governments, NGOs, and international organizations. The first of these was the Social Office. The Social Offices were proposed by the CNJ in 2016 and articulate the Judiciary and the Executive power to offer specialized services based on the reception of former inmates and their families, providing them with support for the resumption of living in freedom. Since 2019, the CNJ has been working with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and DEPEN to qualify and expand Social Offices across the country. The action is supported by Courts of Justice across the country, which collaborates with local public authorities and other relevant stakeholders mobilized in a network²⁷27 Conselho nacional de Justiça (CNJ). Escritório Social: concretizando direitos [Internet]. [acessado 2021 nov 14]. Disponível em: https://www.cnj.jus.br/sistema-carcerario/politica-de-atencao-a-pessoas-egressas-do-sistema-prisional-escritorios-sociais/escritorios-sociais/.
https://www.cnj.jus.br/sistema-carcerari... . Another CNJ program was Começar de Novo (Start Again), which aims to raise awareness among public bodies and civil society so that they can provide jobs and professional training courses for prisoners and former inmates of the penitentiary system. Both public and private institutions²⁸28 Conselho nacional de Justiça (CNJ). Começar de novo [Internet]. [acessado 2021 nov 12]. Disponível em: https://www.cnj.jus.br/campanha/comecar-de-novo-artigo-campanha/.
https://www.cnj.jus.br/campanha/comecar-... offer employment opportunities. Besides these programs, the CNJ produced two booklets, the Pessoa Presa (The inmate) booklet, and the Mulher Presa (The female inmate) booklet. The latter is aimed at women deprived of liberty to clarify their rights and duties, with information on constitutional guarantees and legal and administrative prerogatives²⁹29 Conselho nacional de Justiça (CNJ). Cartilha da mulher presa [Internet]. 2011 [acessado 2021 nov 20]. Disponível em: https://www.cnj.jus.br/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/cartilha_da_mulher_presa_final.pdf.
https://www.cnj.jus.br/wp-content/upload... . Except for the booklet, the CNJ programs do not specifically address the issue of the social reintegration of women deprived of liberty.

The lack of specific programs for women deprived of liberty and those released from the prison system is problematic as the woman considered a criminal is seen as someone who has infringed the law on two levels. First, the legal law, followed by the socially imposed law, which is the role of women in the family order as passive beings and less prone to violence. In this sense, when a woman is labeled a criminal, she will be treated much more rigorously than a male criminal. These women are expected not to have financial or professional stability even before incarceration, as most performed low-skilled occupations or were unemployed. Research indicates that these women have life histories marked by poverty, fragile family and affective ties, early loss of parents, low sociability rates, low access to education, and much violence²⁰20 Diniz D. Cadeia: relatos sobre mulheres. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Civilização Brasileira; 2015.^,3030 Nicolau AIO, Ribeiro SG, Lessa PRA, Monte AS, Ferreira RCN, Pinheiro AKB. Retrato da realidade socioeconômica e sexual de mulheres presidiárias. Acta Paul Enferm 2012; 25(3):386-392.^,3131 Lima GMB, Pereira-Neto AF, Amarante PCD, Dias MD, Ferreira-Filha MO. Mulheres no cárcere: significados e práticas cotidianas de enfrentamento com ênfase na resiliência. Saude Debate 2013; 37(98):446-456.. Four out of five women deprived of their liberty (80%) are responsible for supporting their families and taking care of their children, and many children remain within the system with their mothers²²22 Levantamento Nacional de Informações Penitenciárias (INFOPEN). Dados sobre população carcerária do Brasil são atualizados [Internet]. 2020 [acessado 2021 out 10]. Disponível em: https://www.gov.br/pt-br/noticias/justica-eseguranca/2020/02/dados-sobre-populacao-carceraria-do-brasil-sao-atualizados.
https://www.gov.br/pt-br/noticias/justic... . Besides these situations of vulnerability, the Brazilian prison environment exposes these women to more significant biological or psychological risks, so PDLs throughout Brazil require health care. It so happens that, in general, the specific health needs of women, including access to sexual and reproductive health, treatment of infectious diseases, nutrition, and hygiene, are neglected in the prison system⁴4 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Adressing the global crisis strategy 2015-2017. New York: UNODC; 2017.^,3232 Bastick M, Townhead L. Women in prison: A commentary on the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Genebra: Ed. Creative Commons Licence; 2008..

Most prison activities are performed inadequately, without material resources, and in improvised spaces. Besides the substandard conditions offered to PDLs is the lack of working conditions for technicians working in the penitentiary system. The work of technicians, such as social workers and psychologists, is almost always limited to responding to protocol demands required by the Judiciary, hardly leaving time to meet the inmates’ social and psychological demands³³33 Salla F, Lourenço LC. Aprisionamento e prisões. In: Lima RS, Ratton JL, Azevedo R, organizadores. Crime, polícia e justiça no Brasil. São Paulo: Contexto; 2014.^,3434 Andrade CC, Oliveira-Junior A, Braga AA, Jakob AC, Araujo TD. O desafio da reintegração social do preso: uma pesquisa em estabelecimentos prisionais. Brasília: Ipea; 2015.. Another issue is the lack of legal assistance and interest in rehabilitation by those responsible for criminal enforcement. On many occasions, there is no differentiation of PDLs by criminal type or condition in the criminal process (pre-trial and convicted, closed, semi-open, and open)³⁴34 Andrade CC, Oliveira-Junior A, Braga AA, Jakob AC, Araujo TD. O desafio da reintegração social do preso: uma pesquisa em estabelecimentos prisionais. Brasília: Ipea; 2015.. In this context, the concept proposed by Bourdieu, which discusses the incorporation of institutional schemes by individuals and how they can control the social dynamics of a given field⁸8 Bourdieu P. Meditaciones pascalianas. Barcelona: Ed. Anagrama; 1999., can be applied. The use of this concept is vital for the applicability of problems and actions in prison policy.

Most federative states adhere to the programs proposed by the CNJ and DEPEN but also develop their activities for the social reintegration of former inmates of the prison system, primarily aimed at offering professional training to incorporate them into the job market. However, only the state of Rio Grande do Sul develops actions from a gender perspective, offering training for preparing thermal blankets for the homeless. This Project is a partnership between the Secretariat of Justice and Criminal and Socio-Educational Systems (SJSPS) and the Monitoring and Inspection Group of the Justice Internal Affairs Department of Rio Grande do Sul’s Court of Justice. The low number of programs with a gender perspective highlights the low visibility of women in the prison system. The importance of working on this issue is emphasized by Fores and Pellico¹⁷17 Flores JA, Pellico LH. A meta-synthesis of women's postincarceration experiences. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 2011; 40(4):486-496. when they address the issue of discrimination and stigma in society and how they are very much present regarding women deprived of liberty which their families and friends¹⁷17 Flores JA, Pellico LH. A meta-synthesis of women's postincarceration experiences. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 2011; 40(4):486-496. can still reject.

We should emphasize that the situation of social vulnerability experienced by women deprived of liberty begins even before incarceration, as most of them come from marginalized and underprivileged segments of society. In this context, they have fewer prospects of getting jobs, even compared to men deprived of liberty. In most cases, they commit a crime due to a situation of vulnerability, and it is not uncommon for them to remain in violent relationships due to economic dependence¹⁴14 Burch M. (Re)entry from the Bottom Up: Case Study of a Critical Approach to Assisting Women Coming Home from Prison. Critical Criminology 2017; 25(3):357-374.^,3535 Shantz LR, Frigon S. Aging, women and health: from the pains of imprisonment to the pains of reintegration. Int J Prison Health 2009; 5(1):3-15.. Providing these women with adequate opportunities for professional training during incarceration can help them get a job after serving their sentence, thus facilitating social reintegration and breaking the cycle of social vulnerability and violence. Managers must know that the training and the possibility of employment can correspond to market demands and aim to increase these women’s actual chances of earning a decent wage after imprisonment³3 United Nations (UN). Handbook on Women and Imprisonment. 2ª ed. with reference to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial. Measures for Women Offenders. New York: UN; 2014.^,1515 Julião EF. A ressocialização através do estudo e do trabalho no sistema penitenciário brasileiro [tese]. Rio de Janeiro: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; 2009.^,1616 Añaños FT, García-Vita MDM, Galán-Casado D, Raya-Miranda R. Dropout, Autonomy and Reintegration in Spain: A Study of the Life of Young Women on Temporary Release. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1359..

NGOs are active in social reintegration in Brazil. Many news regarding programs aimed at socialization, training, and support for returning to work activities were found, and three of these actions were specific to women deprived of their liberty. International agencies operating in Brazil were also found in promoting social reintegration programs, emphasizing UNFPA, which develops actions with a gender perspective, promoting training workshops for women in custody. Besides access to training and employment, another crucial point for women deprived of liberty is access to education, especially for the most vulnerable, as they are more likely to have minimal education or even to be illiterate. Access to education is an important avenue to help these women gain self-confidence and financial independence. Prisons are often the first opportunity they have to learn to read and write, which can improve their professional skills and their self-esteem¹⁴14 Burch M. (Re)entry from the Bottom Up: Case Study of a Critical Approach to Assisting Women Coming Home from Prison. Critical Criminology 2017; 25(3):357-374.

15 Julião EF. A ressocialização através do estudo e do trabalho no sistema penitenciário brasileiro [tese]. Rio de Janeiro: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; 2009.^-1616 Añaños FT, García-Vita MDM, Galán-Casado D, Raya-Miranda R. Dropout, Autonomy and Reintegration in Spain: A Study of the Life of Young Women on Temporary Release. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1359.. The right to education must be guaranteed by the prison authorities, even when the State does not have the conditions to do so, which can be performed through cooperation with educational institutions and NGOs³3 United Nations (UN). Handbook on Women and Imprisonment. 2ª ed. with reference to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial. Measures for Women Offenders. New York: UN; 2014..

Preserving assistance programs to prepare women deprived of liberty for social reintegration is a crucial measure to ensure that these women’s social, psychological, and health support needs are not interrupted after serving the sentence¹⁴14 Burch M. (Re)entry from the Bottom Up: Case Study of a Critical Approach to Assisting Women Coming Home from Prison. Critical Criminology 2017; 25(3):357-374.^,3636 Lackner M. Prisoner reentry and reintegration: perspectives of the women involved in Outcare's St John of God Women's Program [tese]. Joondalup: Edith Cowan University; 2012.. Activities carried out in prison must be linked to external services to ensure care continuity and the monitoring of cases requiring follow-up with any professional training, psychological support, or medical treatment initiated in prison. This process is only sometimes straightforward and, depending on the country, and local culture, can have several obstacles to the social reintegration of these women³⁷37 Espinoza O. Mujeres Privadas de Libertad: ¿Es posible su reinserción social? Cad CRH 2016; 29(n. esp. 3):93-106..

In situations where the end of serving a sentence is nearing, prison authorities should use some regime transition strategies, such as the semi-open regime, to facilitate the transition from the prison situation to living with society and, thus, re-establish contact between women deprived of liberty and their families as soon as possible. These strategies facilitate a more harmonious and successful social reintegration³3 United Nations (UN). Handbook on Women and Imprisonment. 2ª ed. with reference to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial. Measures for Women Offenders. New York: UN; 2014.. The Brazilian Government participated in the negotiations for elaborating the Bangkok Rules and their approval at the United Nations General Assembly. However, these rules still need to be effectively included in consistent public policies in the country. One of the difficulties in the success of these rules is the stigma directed at PDLs. Goffman¹²12 Goffman E. Estigma: notas sobre a manipulação da identidade deteriorada. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editores; 1982. argues that stigma provides a social identity that brings a contrary valuation. The social environment establishes identity classes in different value categories for individuals¹²12 Goffman E. Estigma: notas sobre a manipulação da identidade deteriorada. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editores; 1982., preventing adequate social reintegration.

The situation of the Brazilian Penitentiary System has severe difficulties, which has stimulated the reflection of the public power and society on the penal execution policy. In Brazil, Criminal Law is based on three groups: the Penal Code, which predicts what a crime is and ratifies the applicable penalties per the nature of the infringement committed; the Criminal Procedure Code, which defines the steps that police authorities must follow from the notification of the crime to the judgment of the criminal process; and the Penal Execution Law (LEP), which regulates the minimum conditions for transgressors in the process of complying with their penalty, including social reintegration measures³⁸38 Bitencourt CR (2021). Tratado de Direito Penal - Parte Geral - Volume 1. 27ª ed. São Paulo: Editora Saraiva Jur; 2021..

The LEP faces specific barriers in its application, such as the difficulty in guaranteeing the dignity and humanity of sentence execution in prisons, and the conditions for social reintegration, despite its first article aiming “to put into effect the provisions of the sentence or criminal decision and provide conditions for the harmonious social integration of the convict and the interned”. Also, article 10 of the LEP mentions the clear State’s duty to offer assistance to PDLs to avoid recidivism to the crime and guide the importance of social reintegration measures that must be extended to the former inmate - “Assistance to the prisoner and the interned is the duty of the State, to prevent crime and guide the return to coexistence in society”³⁹39 Brasil. Lei nº 7.210, de 11 de julho de 1984. Institui a Lei de Execução Penal. Diário Oficial da União 1984; 13 jul..

According to Silva⁴⁰40 Silva JR. Prisão: Ressocializar para não reincidir [monografia]. Curitiba: Universidade Federal do Paraná; 2003., while the LEP clearly intends to resocialize individuals after serving a sentence, resocialization has not been satisfactory in the Brazilian reality since prisons are unsuitable for this process. The legal system’s apparatus for resocializing PDLs still requires numerous changes to become a reality in Brazilian prisons, as they need to provide effective programs to realize resocialization. The Executive Branch needs to prepare for the correct application of the LEP, so the states responsible for the penitentiaries must invest in infrastructure and specialized labor so that public policies can be defined and adapted to the resocialization of prisoners, as per the current legal system³⁹39 Brasil. Lei nº 7.210, de 11 de julho de 1984. Institui a Lei de Execução Penal. Diário Oficial da União 1984; 13 jul.^,4040 Silva JR. Prisão: Ressocializar para não reincidir [monografia]. Curitiba: Universidade Federal do Paraná; 2003..

The LEP brought to the agenda of penal execution the discussion on how to proceed in the social reintegration of PDLs. Some conflicting concepts about reintegration⁴¹41 Baratta A. Ressocialização ou controle social: uma abordagem crítica da reintegração social do sentenciado. Alemanha: Universidade de Saarland; 2013. are observed. However, they all converge on the relevance of contributing to the change in individuals’ lives¹⁵15 Julião EF. A ressocialização através do estudo e do trabalho no sistema penitenciário brasileiro [tese]. Rio de Janeiro: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; 2009.. Government initiatives are essential in this process, as they can guide national policies and States in conducting the social reintegration of PDLs. Although Brazilian states are free to build their model, they generally follow the guidelines proposed in the LEP concerning assistance policies for PDLs. The social reintegration actions are described in the guidelines of the National Criminal and Penitentiary Policy Plan as a set of technical, political, and managerial interventions conducted during and after serving sentences or security measures to create interfaces to bring the State, Community, and beneficiaries closer, increasing their resilience and reducing their vulnerability to the prison system⁴²42 Brasil. Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública (MJSP). Conselho Nacional de Política Criminal e Penitenciária. Plano Nacional de Política Criminal e Penitenciária (2020-2023). Brasília: MJSP; 2019.^,4343 Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ). Número de mulheres presas multiplica por oito em 16 anos [Internet]. 2017 [acesso 2010 ago 14]. Disponível em: https://www.cnj.jus.br/numero-de-mulheres-presas-multiplica-por-oito-em-16-anos/.
https://www.cnj.jus.br/numero-de-mulhere... .

Conclusions

Analyzing the problem addressed in this work from the holistic-relational perspective viewpoint, we aimed to cover all its complexity and, in a gender approach, assumed that the prison, as an institution belonging to a given society, was thought, designed, and implemented by hegemonic paradigms in a specific historical-sociopolitical, cultural, moral and ideological context. These cross-sectional typifying schemes of appreciation, perception, and action are not exempt from conflicts, negotiations, and resistance when the different subjects (stakeholders, agents) interact in them and imprint a particular dynamic of daily functioning.

The analysis of internal factors related to the services offered by the prison system to contribute to social reintegration, such as the evaluation of the structure, work process, and result of the services, and the external factors related to public policies, management, network articulation of justice, health, and education are essential tools in the consolidation of a national policy³3 United Nations (UN). Handbook on Women and Imprisonment. 2ª ed. with reference to the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial. Measures for Women Offenders. New York: UN; 2014.^,4141 Baratta A. Ressocialização ou controle social: uma abordagem crítica da reintegração social do sentenciado. Alemanha: Universidade de Saarland; 2013.. Souza et al.⁴⁴44 Souza EM, Costa ASM, Lopes B.C. Ressocialização, trabalho e resistência: mulheres encarceradas e a produção do sujeito delinquente. Cad EBAPE.BR 2019; 17(2):362-374. affirm that mortifying the self within the prison due to humiliation and violence to which prisoners are subjected hinders these people’s view of the prison as a legitimate resocialization space. The prison environment should be considered a legitimate and dignified space for incarcerated people to realize the resocialization process effectively.

The challenge of the Brazilian penitentiary system includes the approach of citizenship and human dignity to the prison system, as the isolation of individuals distances them from social life and places them in an environment with its rules. Moreover, state programs can move closer or further away from the DEPEN-oriented social reintegration policy. Within this challenge, the gender issue approach should be categorically included in the programs proposed by the different stakeholders to give these women visibility in social reintegration to enjoy their rights fully. There is no definitive answer to this challenge. However, the State needs to guarantee PDLs the fundamental rights of citizenship in prison and develop programs and resocialization projects globally and continuously so that the rights provided for in the LEP are materialized in concrete actions and secure a path for the convicts’ effective social reintegration.

In short, the results extracted from the documentary analysis on governmental and non-governmental strategies and programs aimed at the social reintegration of former inmates of the Brazilian prison system, from a gender perspective, reveal that there are few gender-sensitive programs in Brazil, and they primarily incorporate education and preparation for work as a critical factor in social reintegration. However, there is a gap regarding parenting programs where contact with children is allowed or encouraged, family reunification programs, and treatment of licit and illicit substance abuse, which shows that once in the prison system, there is no State awareness of adapting such a system to the specificities of women, who have the same treatment given to men, so that gender adequacy is not considered.

References

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