The possible interlocution between Foucauldiantheories and the prison system in Brazil

Abstract

The present article proposes to investigate the theories of the French philosopher Michel Foucault, especially located in Discipline and Punish and Microphysics of Power, trying to bring them closer to the reality of the penal system, as well as the State and Brazilian civil society. Therefore, the search will be divided as follows: First, explore the Foucauldian term “illegalism”, verifying the conditions of its best suitability in cases of violence against detainees within some prisons in the country. Then, the study intends to succinctly address the phenomenon known as “panopticism” and its manifestation, not simply directed to the prison environment, but also perceiving it in school, hospital, military, religious and other spaces. After analyzing the considerations of illegalism and the Panopticon, it will be possible to substantiate the suspicion of the meaning of “docile bodies”, as modes of political and economic subjection, probably resulting from a classist and consumerist system, whose success would depend on the full effectiveness of its mechanisms.