Reflections in interdisciplinary dialogue between anthropology and law: discourses and practices on the penitentiary government in Buenos Aires territory

Abstract

This article focuses on the government of prison confinement in the province of Buenos Aires, on the basis of the exchange among the authors regarding their research experiences in the field. The contrast arises between the penitentiary praxis and a basic notion of security policies within a democratic and social rule of law State that should ensure the full implementation of human rights provided in our National Constitution. This should not only guide the actions of public officials, but also command the removal of any kind of obstacles to guarantee the full and effective implementation of such rights with the purpose of promoting their gradual advance and never allowing their regression. From our point of view as researchers within the penitentiary field, we identify and question the policies, contrasts, and material conditions of imprisonment that account for everyday practices and discourses of the actors involved and that influence the settings and the maintenance of the social order in prison.