Luzes na escuridão: Narrativas no cárcere

Abstract

In order to capture teachers’ and students' perceptions of their educational reality, the propelling problem of this research was to understand how the offer of education in Pedro Afonso Women's Prison Unit (UPF – Female Prison Unit) can contribute to the resocialization of inmates. And in order to respond to such concern, the following specific objectives are outlined: to research the documents that regulate the offer of education in the prison of Pedro Afonso, Tocantins and Brazil, to know the school trajectory of the students and their teachers; and narrate the educational reality present at the Pedro Afonso UPF and its contributions to the resocialization process of the students. The methodology followed the Thematic Oral History, characterizing the methodology and data collection instruments, conceiving the trajectory of each step and presenting the researched place and the protagonists of this study. The corpus of the investigation consisted of the narratives of four teachers acting exclusively in Pedro Afonso's UPF, and of six students who voluntarily agreed to participate in the investigative process. The time frame was from December 2018 to March 2019, period of interview collection and signing of the Informed Consent Form. Through the systematization, analysis and interlacing of the data, the results of this research are revealed, which suggest that there is a latent distance between the legislation and its practice in the daily life of prisons in the country. In addition, the results also demonstrated the difficulties in providing education in places of deprivation of liberty, due to the absence of a suitable structure for the execution of educational activities, training of professionals who work there and didactic and pedagogical materials. It was also noted the need for the provision and expansion of school education throughout the state and national penitentiary system, in order to ensure it as a fundamental right and an effective means in the redemption of the penalty and the resocialization of the prisoner. The study also highlights that these places of memories need to be discussed, researched and analyzed from the narratives of the subjects who are inserted in them. It was concluded that education can impact lives inside and outside school, and may directly contribute to the resocialization of the students, not only by raising their schooling, but also by giving them a chance to achieve a more dignified life in an exclusionary society.