A corrupção e o estado de coisas inconstitucional no sistema prisional estadual do Rio Grande do Norte: diretrizes constitucionais frente ao poder punitivo estatal

Abstract

The central theme of this work is the corruption of public agents as an aggravating element of the crisis in the state prison system of RN. The objective was to analyze how the corruption of correctional officers, police and other employees working in the area causes damage to state control and to the society in which they operate, in such a way that their unreasonable actions, combined with the improper functioning of prisons (overcrowding, lack of investments, etc.), constitute one of the intensifying elements of the Unconstitutional State of Things (ECI) in the state's prison system. To discuss such issues, the qualitative, bibliographic and documentary research method was adopted, with regard to the materialization of state control through incarceration, the excesses of punitive power and the corruption associated with the ECI in the prison system of RN. The results of the research showed that public insecurity in RN is related to the intensification of the crisis in the penitentiary system and to violent crime, observed, above all, in the war between factions, whose exponent occurred in 2017, the Alcaçuz penitentiary, in Nísia Floresta, with actions intermediated and facilitated by public agents, through the entry of cell phones and weapons. The discussion found that, after riots and serious signs of corruption by public officials in prisons, several measures are being adopted and others being improved, indicating that the performance of the state government also needs to be closely monitored, with actions that excel in intelligence and prevention.