Entre o cuidado e a custódia: Como agentes prisionais em Minas Gerais percebem seu trabalho

Between Care and Custody: How Prison Officers Perceive Their Work in Minas Gerais reveals how prison officers in Minas Gerais perceive their work, whether it is focused on guaranteeing order or on care-a word traditionally associated with resocialization activities in prison. We analyzed whether the workers’ sex has any influence on how they perceive their work, through the analysis of 1,525 online questionnaires self-administered between 2014 and 2015, and semi-structured interviews carried out with 10 women and 13 men working in prisons between 2016 and 2018. In their perception, the maintenance of order and security is the main objective of the profession. The similarities of the discourses of women and men indicate the adoption of masculinity values, such as the use of force and brutality, seen as essential to maintain order in the prison.

Keywords:
perception of work; prison system; prison officer; comparative analysis; gender