Presas fora de cela: mulheres com tornozeleira eletrônica

Abstract

Conventional prisons restrict the freedom of the incarcerated population through the presence of walls, cells, bars, correctional officers, among other similar elements aimed at excluding these individuals from the rest of society. Considering that imprisonment is not the only punitive measure applied and legitimized by the State, attention was directed towards the policy of electronic monitoring. When subjected to this measure, the individual is required to wear a device of surveillance, punishment, and social control attached to their ankle, which enables real-time tracking. In this way, the sentence is served outside prison walls, while the individual manages their own confinement. However, although this measure differs from conventional imprisonment, the continued confinement of the monitored population is still evident, even outside penitentiary walls, through a critical examination of how this policy operates. Specifically, the aim is to understand electronic monitoring from a gendered perspective; that is, it is assumed that people of different genders experience the restriction of freedoms in distinct ways, and therefore the focus is placed on the experiences of women living with the so-called electronic ankle monitor. The particularities of this policy as experienced by the female population are investigated in light of the gender inequalities and violences that structure Brazilian society, as well as those related to class, race, generation, sexual orientation, and education. This is a qualitative investigation, grounded in a comprehensive approach, concerning the everyday lives of these individuals and how monitoring manifests itself in the subtleties of daily life, in tasks commonly regarded as routine. In other words, attention is directed to the everyday life of this population, considering the reach of the violences produced by monitoring in spheres regarded as the most ordinary aspects of life. In addition to everyday tasks, the family and friendship relationships of the interlocutors are also examined in light of the use of the ankle monitor, as well as employment and educational possibilities, likewise considering the effects of monitoring. Methodologically, field research was conducted, including semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, examinations of social media profiles of monitored women who share their routines, and the reading of an autobiographical work by one of the interlocutors. Thus, it is understood that, although electronic monitoring produces general effects on those subjected to it — men and women, for example — it is interpreted as a policy that also generates heterogeneous phenomena depending on the social group targeted. In the case of the female population, it is understood that the dynamics of this punitive and surveillance measure intersect with inequalities already established in Brazilian society and therefore require careful and specific attention. Finally, it is hoped that this study will contribute to research on conflict and violence, particularly to discussions surrounding the policy of electronic monitoring, from a perspective that takes into account the specificities of women’sexperiences.