From the Right to Dignity to the Attack protocol: Transformation of Prison Security in Brazil

Abstract

The evolution of prison architecture reflects the institutional and legal transformations of the penal system. During the disciplinary period, between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, models such as Bentham’s Panopticon and the Pennsylvania and Auburn systems structured cellular spaces designed for centralized surveillance and the docilization of bodies. In the twentieth century, under the influence of the resocialization discourse, typologies such as parallel pavilions and modular layouts were disseminated, seeking to legitimize social reintegration, although limited by structural precariousness and the overload of prison staff. With Constitutional Amendment No. 104/2019, which established the Penal Police, a transition to the contemporary security model can be observed, marked by the militarization of spaces and the redefinition of the role of prison agents into penal police officers. This change shifted the focus from resocialization to the control of dangerousness, reinforcing the logic of containment and permanent surveillance. The trajectory of penal architecture thus reveals three central moments—disciplinary, social, and security—through which prisons operated as political devices of domination, disciplining both inmates and workers and amplifying the effects of institutional violence.