O projeto de educação destinado às pessoas privadas de liberdade no contexto de privatização de unidades prisionais em Minas Gerais: um estudo sobre a Associação de proteção e assistência ao condenado e gestores prisionais associados

Abstract

The research addresses the problem of education for imprisoned people in prisons run by private organizations. The subject of the research is the state of Minas Gerais, which, until 2023, had two private organizations working in prison administration: the Associação de Proteção e Assistência ao Condenado (APAC) and the Gestores Prisionais Associados (GPA). The research question was divided into the following questions: what is the conception of school and non-school education provided to imprisoned people by the private organizations that run prisons in Minas Gerais? Do these organizations establish specific formulations to guide their educational practices? Is the conception of these organizations convergent with the statements established in the legislation and provided for in public documents on the subject? Thus, the general objective of the research was to analyze the educational projects of APAC and GPA, seeking to identify the concepts and strategies aimed at educating imprisoned individuals. The epistemic framework is dialectical historical materialism. The analysis undertaken in the investigation focused on: i) documents produced by APAC, GPA, and their (former) leaders; ii) documents that convey the positions of these organizations on education (interviews, lectures, etc.); iii) a questionnaire aimed at the organizations' managers. Regarding the questionnaire, it should be noted that GPA did not respond to our request. The material was analyzed in the light of two content categories: human development and the purpose of school education. The research found that APAC and GPA have the autonomy to direct the education of imprisoned individuals based on private principles, which are therefore not universal. From the analysis of the data, we concluded that: i) the privatization mechanism made possible by the so-called "public-private partnership" is a serious obstacle to the right to education of imprisoned people; ii) the organizations spread Christian ideology as an instrument to control the subjectivity of inmates and conform them to resignation; iii) the relationship between work and education is marked by a lack of critical understanding of the world of work, since the aim is to train them for employability and entrepreneurship; iv) the different infrastructure and the lack of overcrowding in the prisons run by the investigated organizations produce the perception of the supposed efficiency of the private sector in prison administration. Although the organizations have specific political and legal identities, their projects converge and are aimed at a common goal: alienating people so that they do not understand their living conditions as the result of individual choices mediated by the intensification of social issues. The research also indicates that it is important to recognize the education of imprisoned people as a type of basic education, due to its specificity, and to broaden the democratic - and therefore public - reflection on the purpose of this education. However, if the policy of mass incarceration, as a measure to address social issues is not revised, no isolated initiatives will be able to offer consistent answers to the education of imprisoned people.