BRAZILIAN PENITENTIARY SYSTEM OVERCROWDING AND ITS CONSEQUENCES: A CRIMINOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE (RE)PRODUCTION OF CRIMINALITY

Abstract

This article analyzes the issue of overcrowding in the Brazilian prison system from a criminological perspective, highlighting its causes, consequences, and possible alternatives to the current punitive model. It begins with the historical understanding of prisons as instruments of social control and advances to the consolidation of mass incarceration, strongly marked by penal selectivity that disproportionately affects young, Black, and poor individuals. The study demonstrate organizations and other than promoting rehabilitation, reinforce structural inequalities, strengthen criminal organizations, and perpetuate violations of human dignity. In this context, decarcerating policies and alternatives to imprisonment are discussed, such as restorative justice, alternative sentences, the APAC methodology, and public-private partnerships in prison management, which reveal viable paths for overcoming the penitentiary crisis. It is concluded that transforming the penal system requires replacing the punitive logic with one of social reintegration, in accordance with human rights and constitutional principles