"Public health and food in the prison context: an intersectional analysis"

• Grant number: 22/12541-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2022
• End date: November 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: José Miguel Nieto Olivar
• Grantee: Beatriz Oliveira Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Saúde Pública (FSP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/06897-9 - Cosmopolitics of care in the end of the world: gender, borders, and pluri-epistemic assemblages with public health, AP.JP2

Abstract

Introduction: Food in prisons is a responsibility of the state and a basic right of the prisoner.basic right of the incarcerated. In Manaus, the site of this research, the prison administrationadministration banned in 2019 the entry of any external food brought byfamily members on visits to their relatives deprived of their liberty, along with other basicthat made up the so-called "future". What are the ways and symbolsmobilized by, with and through food in this context? Objective: The objectiveof this research is to build a trail of knowledge about health conditionsand food in the prison context of the city of Manaus, understanding thestrategies used by the prison system within a logic of punishment and howpunishment and how survivors and their families experience these changes. Methodsand Procedures: An ethnography was conducted with fieldwork carried outin the city of Manaus (AM) between January and February 2023, with the collective of(FAPAM). As this research is being carried out inpartnership with FAPAM hopes to contribute to their struggles for care and demands for justice.for justice.Results: Through the meetings of the collective, I direct my workand support for survivors of the prison system.Through conversations and exchanges, we have built up a line of facts and their effects on the population.on the increase in punitivism by the prison administration on the prison population.population. On December 31, 2016, a riot broke out at the Anísio Jobim Penitentiary Complex (COMPA).Anísio Jobim (COMPAJ), in Manaus, left 56 inmates dead and lasted 17 hours.This event ushered in a new period of internal standardization in prison units,intensifying punitive processes for prisoners and their families, with regulations on thequantities of food and a total ban on their entry. These punitive processeshave a central mechanism in the regulation of food, signaling a productive resource in theand collectivization of punishments. Family members, especiallymothers and wives, who are victims of this dynamic, are key players in identifying andinstitutional violence, including the production of hunger and the multipleviolations of the rights to health and adequate food. Final considerations: In thecontext analyzed, the issue of food plays a central role in the interactionbetween prisoners, families and the prison structure, and is influenced by aspects of gender and race.gender and race. This shows how food control becomes an additional tool of punishment.of punishment. The hunger generated by imprisonment reverberates between the inmatefamily, with dramatic effects on visits and family dynamics.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BEATRIZ OLIVEIRA SANTOS; MELISSA YASMIN ALVES TARRÃO; JOSÉ MIGUEL NIETO OLIVAR; BÁRBARA HATZLHOFFER LOURENÇO. Aleitamento materno exclusivo entre pessoas em situação de cárcere: abordagem interseccional e abolicionista para análise da produção científica no Brasil entre 2000 e 2022. Saúde e Sociedade, v. 33, n. 1, 2024-04-08. (21/06897-9, 22/12541-5)