Victimization of women prisoners in Porto Alegre

This paper discusses the results of a pioneering Victimization Survey carried out in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul), in November 2022, with a representative random sample of women prisoners at the Madre Pelletier State Prison. The process of victimization of of people detained in Brazil continues to be, to a large extent, invisible to the public and even to managers, and victimization studies with incarcerated populations are still rare in Brazil and Latin America. Regular studies of the victimization of prisoners are, however, essential instruments for monitoring and evaluating the quality of criminal treatment. To collect data, we applied a questionnaire with 100 questions to a group of 41 prisoners and formed two focus groups with six prisoners each, who had not been part of the group of respondents to the questionnaire, to listen to them about their experience of deprivation. of freedom. The results found revealed a systematic process of violations reported by inmates, exposed to hostility from prisoners and public servants and subjected to a type of criminal treatment incapable of ensuring their dignity. The evidence collected suggests that the feeling of abandonment shapes women's experience of prison in a marked way, with their most felt complaints being related to missing family members, notably, in the case of those who are mothers, their children.

Keywords:
Human rights; Victimization survey; Institutional violence; Women prisoners.