Project ‘Unhealthy Bodies, Free Minds’ will be the subject of the next debate by Ruth Gilmore during her visit to Bahia

Penal abolitionism, a central theme of the research and activism work of North American professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore, discusses alternatives to the punitive logic of the prison system which, according to the writer herself, carries with it remnants of colonialism from past centuries. The Bahian state, in turn, is already in dialogue with different possibilities, such as the project ‘Corpos Indoceis, Mentes Livres’, the topic of the activist’s next debate during her visit to Bahia, this Tuesday (22).

Developed in 2013, the organization brings together black women prisoners and former inmates at the Mata Escura prison, in Salvador, to reduce their sentences by reading and writing the content of the works read. In addition to Ruth, the conversation “Art-Education, Contemporary Poetry and Abolitionism” will be attended by Roquelina Gomes, poet winner of the Maria Firmina dos Reis Abolitionist Literary Prize, and Denise Carrascosa, literature professor at the Federal University of Bahia ( Ufba) and the Women’s Penitentiary of the State of Bahia and founder of the initiative.

“The meeting with Ruth is, in fact, the possibility of finding common points, because there will also be differences between what happens in prison management in California and what happens in Bahia, but one point is fundamental: for there to be a model of prisons, the dehumanization of people is necessary, a violent state of affairs that produces violence inside and outside prison, with family members and loved ones, people who suffer with their relatives inside [dos conjuntos penais]”, reflects the co-founder and executive director of the Black Initiative Dudu Ribeiro, one of those responsible for Ruth’s arrival in Brazil.

The state, which is home to around 11.2 million self-declared black people, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), has already demonstrated prosperous results for alternative educational measures. In August, the Public Ministry (MP-BA) defended, in a public hearing at the Legislative Assembly of Bahia (Alba), the prison model Association for the Protection and Assistance of Convicts (Apac), after a proven reduction in criminal recidivism. While the return rate of inmates to crime in the standard system was around 70% to 80%, in Brazil, APAC recorded only 13.9%.

To expand academic barriers, the teacher must also visit the Northeast of Amaralina to dialogue with the community. The neighborhood’s Urban Social Center (CSU) will host the meeting with the Mulheres e Luta collective, starting at 6:30 pm this Wednesday (23).