Strategic Ignorance of Prison Lethality: A Case Study of a Death in Brazilian State Prison

Natalia Pires de Vasconcelos, University of Miami
Maira Rocha Machado, Fundacao Getulio Vargas

While the production of knowledge and information are key components of the carceral state’s surveillance and control apparatus, a key element often neglected by the social-legal debate is strategic ignorance: the production of ignorance as a policy-making tool that maintains the status-quo of state practices and deflects liability for rights violations. In this paper, we discuss how strategic ignorance is inherently connected to carceral lethality, the capacity of carceral spaces such as prisons and jails to produce or increase morbidity and mortality. Through the case study of a death investigation in a prison in São Paulo, Brazil, we identify three forms of strategic ignorance through which state authorities can craft ignorance to avoid liability: leaving known events and facts out of their statements; making use of ambiguity, obfuscation, and uncertainty about the information they do bring into an investigation; and relying on procedural formalism and procedural discretion to exclude certain perspectives and forms or knowing from their inquiry.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 119. Comparative Perspectives on State Ignorance