The Rise of the Rehabilitative Ideal in Brazil: Paradoxes in Times of Mass Incarceration

Despite well-established international analyses that point to the decline of the rehabilitative ideal as one of the outcomes of the punitive turn and mass incarceration, in recent years, South American countries have seen the spread and popularity of social reintegration programs. In the specific case of Brazil, although the country has experienced both the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of the punitive turn—namely, the rise in incarceration rates and the deterioration of prison conditions—there is a noticeable effort in initiatives linked to public security agendas aimed at a dual movement: reward-sanction. Through the description of current practices in the Brazilian prison system, this paper seeks to portray how this discourse has been structured, its dynamics, and methods of application, despite the inherent contradictions of overtly punitive practices, which are characteristic of the Brazilian prison system. This is a qualitative study that involved mapping and identifying connections between practices, institutions, and groups that shape the landscape of what we identify as a rise in the rehabilitative ideal—ideals of social reintegration, rehabilitation, and re-education. To this end, a survey was conducted of legal guidelines, institutions (Resocialization Centers, APACs), programs (sentence reduction), and engaged groups that operate within the prison system context, aligned with the rehabilitative ideal. This study aims to contribute to a broader understanding of the dilemmas and complexities of rising incarceration, the inequality in access to justice, in a country like Brazil with a significant prison population.