Abstract

FIDELIS, Sinara Tereza dos Santos; TORRES, Tatiana de Lucena  and  BENDASSOLLI, Pedro F.. Labor Biographies of Prisoners: Between Crime and Work. Rev. Subj. [online]. 2020, vol.20, n.3, pp.1-14. ISSN 2359-0769.  https://doi.org/10.5020/23590777.rs.v20i3.e9413.

The study aimed to understand the work biography of people deprived of their liberty, considering their work experiences inside and outside the prison, using the theoretical input of senses, meanings, and psychological function of work. The research presented a qualitative, descriptive, and transversal approach, with ethnographic characteristics and participant observation. The context of the study was the Association of Support and Assistance to the Condemned (APAC) of Macau / RN, with the participation of 11 men in a state of deprivation of liberty. The themes of the individual interviews were: a history of working life, work in prison, and APAC. The narratives were subjected to textual analysis of descending hierarchical classification (CHD) with the aid of software. Records in the field diaries were added to the results to compose a global analysis, considering the inmates' narratives and participant observation. The results revealed that, at APAC, discipline is part of everyday life, using the behavioral control of the so-called recuperandos, in dignified conditions of life, based on religious precepts and self-control. The serving of the sentence in human conditions was pointed out as APAC's differential about the common system of incarceration. The recuperandos revealed a work biography marked by precarious work experiences, suffering humiliations, a history of child labor, and submissive positioning. The crime was not considered work because it was not worthy. However, crime promoted an active position and, above all, offered power, something that did not happen with a decent job. Prison work is marked by exhaustion and exploitation in the common system, but seen as labor therapy at APAC, with opportunities for learning and exercising human dignity. Even though it is also marked by impediments and difficulties, it is a space for the development of coping strategies.

Keywords : inmate; job; psychological function of work; the sense of work.

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