Victimization and Gender in the collective discourse in Bahia prisons

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to investigate, through the subjects' discourse, to what extent issues such as sexism, misogyny and homophobia are perceived by prison workers and inmates as correlated to prejudice, intolerance, disrespect, physical and psychological violence and other forms of victimization that LGBTTTI people and women can suffer in prisons in the State of Bahia, Brazil. The investigation, as a qualitative and also quantitative approach and was carried out on the basis of the Collective Subject Discourse (DSC) which is a technique of writing in a single discourse information obtained from different testimonies, and the final product is a collective opinion. While the studio was set up, it consisted of 400 subjects from 28 penitentiary units in Bahia. Among the findings, the research shows that the problems that refer to gender issues are affected by the prevailing punitive rationale in Bahia's penal units, to the point of this punitive rationale being responsible for the omission of prison directors and agents with respect to take actions that inhibit the victimization of homosexuals, transsexuals and transgenders in prison, and at times, the directors and prison agents themselves are responsible for victimizing this population in prison, even with reports of torture. In the results, it was also found that the LGBTTTI population is the victim of physical and psychological violence by other prisoners and prison workers and that women do not have their peculiarities respected.