The penitentiary as an unfolding of the biopolitical field: the administration of death and the massacre

Authors

  • Luis Fernando Pantoja Lopes Universidade Federal do Para

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24302/prof.v12.5806

Abstract

This work will seek to look at the Brazilian penitentiary system, in which it will be emphasized that prisons are seen as paradigms of the concentration camp. In this sense, from an Agambenian reading, it is also clear that the prison is a space where the naked life of the inmate is kidnapped and subject to the arbitrariness and violence of a sovereign power. In order to work with reality, the research in question takes as its main example the massacre that occurred at the Altamira Regional Recovery Center, in the State of Pará, which culminated in the deaths of 62 individuals, in 2019.

Keywords: field; biopolitics; massacre; bare life

Author Biography

  • Luis Fernando Pantoja Lopes, Universidade Federal do Para

    Mestre em Direito pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito da Universidade Federal do Pará (PPGD/UFPA). Pará. Brasil. 

Published

2025-06-23

Issue

Section

Artigos

How to Cite

LOPES, Luis Fernando Pantoja. The penitentiary as an unfolding of the biopolitical field: the administration of death and the massacre. Profanações, [S. l.], v. 12, p. 376–399, 2025. DOI: 10.24302/prof.v12.5806. Disponível em: https://www.periodicos.unc.br/index.php/prof/article/view/5806. Acesso em: 2 jul. 2025.