(Re)socialização de apenados no Brasil: método APAC como alternativa ao sistema carcerário estatal

Abstract

This work aims to present, through bibliographic research and reinforced by a visit to the only working Association for Protection and assistance to Convicts (APAC) facility in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, this very Association as an alternative to the state penitentiary system, a non-governmental entity, with its own legal nature, that acts in partnership with the public power in the execution of freedom-depriving penalties. It is attempted, therefore, to understand the reality observed in Brazilian penitentiaries, showing that the routine of violence causes the jails to fail in their main social function, which is to resocialize the criminally convicted, a situation that is aggravated by the day-to-day crisis in the socializing institutions as a whole. Through selected works, mainly scientific articles and books, it is possible to realize that the penitentiary system bears a delicate attribution, which is to recuperate individuals whose main mean of socialization has been, basically, crime itself. This way, this research tries to raise awareness to the fact that it is more advantageous for the social dynamics that the convicts return to their liberty with a greater tendency of not relapsing into crime. The goal is not an unconditional defense of the APACs; as any program, this one is not immune to criticism. But, in face of the penitentiary system‘s failing, the researched method has been showing to be an alternative for providing us with a safer society, proving that it is more convenient to have a time period in jail that serves as a means to reinsert the individual into society, and not only as mere punishment.