Considering the prison as institution from the perspective of punishment, the main purpose of the article is to analyze the social relations between the inmates and the prison staff, emphasizing the conflicts and tensions emerging from daily interactions between the two groups. The procedures of inquiry in two prisons of the state of Sao Paulo, between 1998 and 2008, constitute the empirical basis for this approach about the dynamics of punitive practices in prison. In this sense, the central issues treated in the article are the effects of punitiveness on asymmetries and hierarchies, the distortions caused by the juxtaposition of disciplinary and control mechanisms, the punitive procedures, and the centrality of punishment in the intersection or the multiple power networks operating in the prison environment.
Punishment; Discipline; Prison; Inquiry; Power
