A biopolítica sobre a docência prisional: entre a segurança e a educação

Biopolítica en la enseñanza penitenciaria: entre la seguridad y la educación

This research study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of prison teaching work, navigating between power relations of security and education, in the light of biopolitics. Also, this study aimed to understand how resocialization of inmates is promoted through schooling and the challenges and advantages in carrying out prison teaching work. In order to get answers and explanations on the issue of teaching work effectiveness with inmates, navigating power relations: security and education, drawing on biopolitics, a study was carried out in a state school within a women’s prison in the town of Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Data were collected from interviews to teachers and field diary logs, using a qualitative and descriptive methodology. To analyze the data in this research, the MAXQDA Analytics Pro (24.2.0), combined with discourse analysis in a critical approach were used for content analysis. Among the main findings, we highlighted that teachers are valued by the students, but not by security enforcement and government officers. Teachers also reported a lack of opportunities to work with certain teaching tools/materials. Furthermore, teachers reported that they believed in inmates’ resocialization through school, but acknowledged that there was a lack of public policies to allow for prison schooling without affecting local security. When considering public policies, and prison structuring and functioning in the light of the concepts analyzed, they the need for change in the prison system was made evident, to allow for alternatives that effectively promote social reintegration.