Os projetos de reforma prisional no século XIX e o caso (fracassado) da Cadeia Pública de São Luís (1856-1889)

Abstract

The Brazilian Prison System, as widely known, has been facing a deep worrying situation for some time, requiring special attention from the State. Since the early years of the Criminal Code of 1830, when it began to be discussed in Brazil, the Prison Reform already proposed the re-education of the offender, starting to remove from social life those who threatened or challenged the established order and public tranquility. The idealized “House of Correction with work”, inaugurated in São Luís in 1856, was born within this context of humanist penal reform. The present study aims to analyze the importance of the construction of the House of Correction in São Luís in a wider context of the Empire's Prison Reform, also considering the humanist and scientific discussions related to the organization of the Brazilian penitentiary system, especially with regard to the treatment of individuals involved in criminal activities or considered transgressive of the political and social order. In the case of São Luís, the discussion about the need to build a new prison gained strength from 1832, culminating in the approval of the law that authorized the construction of the “House of Correction” on July 23, 1834, although the plan suffered revisions in 1836. It is important to mention that, although the construction of the “House of Correction” and the other penitentiary prisons of the Empire followed foreign models, these patterns were not simply replicated. On the contrary, they were adapted according to the particularities of the provinces and the current slavery system, which presented ambiguities related to the form of criminal punishment for the enslaved. In the 19th century, the question of how prison affected people's lives was already present, thus questioning the reforming purpose that drove the construction of modern penitentiaries. The idea of rehabilitation, once eloquent, seemed more like empty rhetoric. Gradually, the vision of a class of criminals that easily adapted to the Houses of Correction was consolidated. The concept of a moral transformation of the criminal, through isolation, work and religion, has never been truly considered in the Brazilian context.