THE BOY WHO COULDN'T WEAR SHORTS: ELECTRONIC MONITORING AND PUNISHMENT TECHNOLOGIES AFTER PRISON

Abstract

The central issue of this text is to analyze, based on the accounts of individuals monitored by the Electronic Monitoring Center in the state of Bahia (CMEP/BA), the dynamics of punishment maintenance beyond incarceration. Originally created to reduce incarceration rates, electronic monitoring, due to its implementation logic, has become an extension of punishment, a tool that exacerbates disparities within the criminal justice system. The discussion focuses on the accounts of monitored individuals regarding how the device has been used as a complement to incarceration, through indefinite judicial timelines for sentence completion, the nature of work policies under electronic surveillance, and the dynamics of stigmatization and marginalization—elements that, combined, result in the maximization of punishment inflicted by the monitoring system. The research is based on content analysis (Bardin, 2016) of semi-structured interviews conducted with three individuals during 2021: Leandro, Alberto, and John. The accounts highlight
the expansion of punitive dynamics they experience through social stigma, work dynamics, precarious access to justice, and the cyclical connection to penal spaces. Thus, the results indicate that penal practices directed at monitored individuals are based on a logic of maintaining a permanent state of punishment, whether through constant surveillance, marginalization and lack of opportunities, or issues more directly linked to the functioning of institutions, perpetuating a punitive dynamic that extends beyond incarceration.