Lazer e juventude encarcerada: tensões entre trabalho, disciplina e práticas culturais em uma unidade prisional da APAC

Abstract

This study comprisesinterdisciplinary research on the significance attributed to leisure experiences by inmates in a prison in accordance with the model proposed by the Associação de ProteçãoaosCondenados - APAC [the association for the protection of inmates, in free translation], in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil., which differs from the usual model in that it adopts the so-called "Apaqueano method of work. Under this method, the inmates day-to-day routine is pre-established by the prison units managerial staff in a shared manner which resembles a self-management model. Even so, this entity still exercises some control over the inmates daily actions which somehow compromises their leisure activities. Thus, through ethnographic study, I have sought to understand the meanings attributed to leisure by youths imprisoned at APAC, their ways of appropriating space while involved in leisure practices, and their processes of sociability. In order to achieve this aim, I have reviewed the literature in three (3) distinct areas: 1) leisure studies; 2) public policies on the prison system; and 3) the relationship between imprisoned youths and leisure. I also review academic productions based on cultural-historical theory, aiming to understand how meaningful their leisure practices inside that prison are. To that end, I use qualitative methodology, with technical support of participant observation and semi-structured interview. The results have shown that leisure practices take placein reduced spaces and short time and that their educational and training potentials are not exploited.