The scope of this paper was to establish how the discourse of a female penitentiary officer working in a prison for women reflects, in different ways, the inherent contradiction of prisons, namely their double mission of punishing and resocializing criminals. The data collected in a female prison in Rio Grande do Sul were evaluated using Critical Discourse Analysis, which seeks to understand how discursive productions reflect social power relations. The analyses show that this officer's practice is based simultaneously on punitive and resocializing ideologies, expressed in contradictory feelings of anger and affection towards incarcerated women. Results point to the centrality of gender in the relationship established between officers and interns. Thus, the fact of being a female officer caring and monitoring other women makes this daily relationship even more complex. This complexity extrapolates the limits imposed by prisons.
Gender; Prison; Penitentiary officer