Contested Terrains and Incubators of Violence: Carceral Establishments in Democratic Brazil

Abstract

In January of 2017, at least 130 inmates were killed in a series of battles that occurred in carceral establishments in the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Roraima, and Rio Grande do Norte. These events were the most recent examples of how Brazil’s carceral establishments are central terrains on which rival comandos, or factions, struggle not just over administrative dominance of the inmate population but also over illicit commerce more broadly. This paper has two primary objectives. First, it presents some of the central historical, political, legislative, and administrative factors that have shaped and contributed to the forms of violence incited in Brazil’s carceral establishments. Second, it highlights pathways for future research to advance more thorough understanding of the dynamics of incarceration and the workings of penal insitutions in democratic Brazil.