THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE HARD TIMES: EXPLORING THE COMPLEX STRUCTURES AND ACTIVITIES OF BRAZILIAN PRISON GANGS ROBERTA NOVIS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY OF THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, LONDON, SEPTEMBER 2013 Declaration of Authorship I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 93.930 words. 2 Abstract This research examines the presence of organised criminal groups in prison and its influence on inmate’s interaction and on the prison system of Rio de Janeiro. Information collected from a series of in-depth interviews with prisoners and ex- prisoners, members and non-members of the criminal groups and authorities of the criminal justice system, suggests that the current social organisation of prisons is working favourably towards the further development of organised crime and deviant behaviour. Prisoners are subordinated not only to the prison administration but also to the gang leaders. If a convict had no links with drug trafficking prior to incarceration, they definitely create one behind bars. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of interviewees from the sensitive sample engaged in drug trafficking while in prison. Off-brand inmates, those who are the less conspicuous convicts, end up engaging in illegal activities to avoid retaliation, perpetuating then a cycle of violence in a fragmented geopolitical gang space behind bars. Political pressure towards the validity of the classification system stratified by gang affiliation has impacted on the prison administration to create multiple categories of prisoners, which are mutually exclusive. This has had pervasive impacts on penal affairs such as allocation of sentences, lack of vacancies and disruption of prisoner’s routine. The research shows that the State goes beyond classification of inmates by gang affiliation; it has incorporated elements of gang’s violent tradition to assess and influence justice and prisoner’s progression. This study offers an interesting scope for a comparative analysis through the study of anti-prison gang strategies. Experiences around the globe have been driven to target gangs with racial and ethnical rivalries. Prison gangs in this study are devoted to a more capitalist goal: the monopoly of illegal drug markets in the streets. Such understandings and contextualizing make a significant contribution to re-examining the role of inmate culture as well as the value of contemporary penal reforms designed to making the penal institutions more responsive and interventionist in addressing inmate needs. Key Words: prison gangs • inmate community • social organisation • social interaction • off-brands • organised crime • drug trafficking • Brazil 3 Acknowledgments I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Dick Hobbs, for his guidance, support, patience and confidence. It has been a tough journey and he has helped me with an excellent support by creating a good atmosphere for doing research and writing this thesis. Hobbs is a man of few but accurate words and I’ve come to admire him more and learn through him and his work the excellence of research and writing. Thank you. I would like to take this opportunity to thank some amazing professors who have crossed the path of this research and have all added important observations for its development and maturity: Tim Newburn, Paul Rock, Paddy Rawlinson, Coretta Phillips, Frances Heidensohn, Julian Fullbrook, David Frisby, David Downes, Nigel Dodd, and Sharon Shalev. Thank you. A huge thank you also to the LSE as a whole and all its departments, centres and institutes that I’ve come to meet and exchange ideas since my Masters degree in Human Rights in 2006. It’s been a pleasure to participate in this creative atmosphere. I would like to thank the university and the department of Sociology for my scholarship without which I wouldn’t be able to do my research. I am eternally grateful to all the participants of this research: professors, experts, authorities and in particular prisoners and ex-convicts. The stories told here are difficult in nature, and I will always carry your plight with me. Thank you for telling me your lives and for sharing such experiences with me. May God bless you all. Finally, I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to my family who laughed and cried with me during this process. This thesis is dedicated to my father, a great friend, for all his orientation and support throughtout my life. In memoriam to my grandmother and uncle Who died while I was in London. 4 With bars they blur the gracious moon And blind the goodly sun And they do well to hide their Hell For in it things are done That son of God nor son of Man Ever should look upon in ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ Oscar Wilde 1897 5 Acronyms ADA – Amigos dos Amigos (Friends of Friends) CV – Comando Vermelho (Red Command) DEPEN – Departamento Penitenciário Nacional (National Penitantiary Department Offbr – Offbrand inmates RAESP – Rede de Apoio ao Egresso do Sistema Penitenciário (Network of Support for the Former Prisoner of the Penitentiary System) SEAP – Secretaria de Estado de Administração Penitenciária (State Secretariat for Prison Administration) TC – Terceiro Comando (Third Command) 6 Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………….……….10 Part I 1. Gangs, Prison and the Brazilian Context…………........……………………….15 1.1. Historical Background and Contemporary Context……..........................18 1.2. Prisons and the Military Rule………………….................................…...19 1.3. From Common Prisoners to Organised Prisoners….…........................…21 1.4. From the Prisons to the Street………………………...............................24 1.5. Drug Market and Urban Violence ………………………………………25 1.6. Organised Crime in Brazil…………….................................……………28 1.7. Political Economy and Brazil’s Prison…………...……...........................32 1.8. The Parliamentary Inquiry Investigation and the Prisons……….............36 2. Conceptual Framework….………………………………...........................39 2.1. Prison Subculture and the Emergence of Prison Gangs………................39 2.2.Associations Among Inmate Organisations……………………………...42 2.3.Controlling the Controllers: Who’s Who?.................................................46 2.4. Prison Moral Performance and the Crisis of Legitimacy………………..48 2.5. The Establishment of Prison Gangs…………….....…….........................52 2.6. The Established Prison Gangs in Brazil……………................................56 2.7. Defining Gangs, Prison Gangs and Organised Criminality………..........58 2. Methodological Approaches and Decisions to the Research Project.................64 2.1. ‘Mixed and Together’: Description of Fieldwork……………….............65 2.1.1. Interview Scan: Odds and Ends............................................................65 2.1.2. Getting into the Specifics: Piloting and Networking………………….69 2.1.3. Accessing Authorities and Experts……………………............………71 2.1.4. Gaining Access to Prisons………………………….............…………72 7 2.1.5.Meeting the Other Side of the World: Pre-Prison and Post-Prison Narratives…………………............................................…………………….75 2.2. Structure, Analysis and Writer’s Method……………………………….78 2.2.1. Interview Guides………………………………………………………80 2.2.2. Code Description of Interviewees……………………………………..81 2.2.3. Emerging Themes from Empirical Research………………………….83 3. Head, Body and the Space in Between: the Multiplication of Gangs…………87 3.1.The Process of Favela Formation………………………………..............89 3.2. Favelas as Organized Crime Territory…………………………………..92 3.3. Children Involved in Armed Violence…………………………………109 3.4. Political Actors in the Prison System…………………………………..115 4. Practices and Social Interactions Inside a Stratified Prison System...............117 4.1.The Multiplication of Prisoner’s Categories…………………................118 4.2.Life Inside the Contemporary Penitentiary……………………………..120 4.3.Prison as a Geopolitical Gang Headquarters……………………………122 4.4.Understanding the Collective: “Mixed and Together” but “Pure and Unmixed”…………………………………………………………………...125 4.5. The Meat Market: Unaffiliated Inmates………………………………..131 4.6. 1a CVRLPJLUPCC C-9 D.G. do V.G. P/C-1……………......................137 4.7. Drug Use, Drug Trafficking and Corruption……………………….......143 4.8. Learning from the Best: Prison Experience for Organised Criminals....145 Part II 5. Duet or Duel: The State’s Response to Prison Gangs …………..…...........….150 5.1.Divide and Rule: Strategies Towards Hegemony………………………153 5.2.The Crisis of Control and Authority: Gangs and their Impact on Prison Social Service……………………………………………………………….156 5.3.The Current Delivery of Services: “It’s Nothing that Hinders the Function of the Prison”……………………………………………………………….157 8 5.3.1.The Crisis of Security: ‘Rehabilitation for a Better Future’.…………161