WORK, PROFIT AND REGENERATION IN CASA DE CORREÇÃO THE PORTO ALEGRE DURING THE OLD REPUBLIC

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the political-economic efforts of part of the gaucho government to provide the workshops of the Casa de Correção de Porto Alegre, created between 1896 and 1897, with a manufacturing organization and administration. The limits of the current correctionalist ideology, underpinned by an economicism that previously prioritized the constitution of an industrial, profitable and tax-free regime for penitentiary expenses, are discussed rather than the development of work experiences, regardless of their financial-commercial results. Although work was seen as a key element for the “regeneration” of prisoners, the implementation of workshops in the prison would only take place if they were profitable to the State.