Female prison system: a case study of public security policies

Abstract

Although the rate of female incarceration has increased significantly in recent years, building public policies that encompass the gender perspective is still a state process to be consolidated in the government agenda. This article presents a case study that investigates the female prisoner universe of a region in the state of Minas Gerais. The objective was to analyze how gender differences influence the construction of public security policies in the prison system, and affects the experiences of female prisoners. This qualitative research used semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, the data produced were submitted to content analysis proposed by Bardin, whose textual categorization occurred by classifying constituent elements of a set and regrouping from the common characteristics of these elements. From this analysis, four categories were constructed: imprisonment and gender; maternity and prison; public policies; and prison life. The main results indicate that gender differences in the elaboration of policies related to the prison system influence the experiences of incarcerated women, particularly regarding motherhood. Although significant advances were made to adequate public policies to the specificities of female prisoners, this is still a recent and incipient issue.