Person, Institution, and Space: For a Legal-Descriptive Framework of State Violence Based on the Carandiru Massacre

The “Carandiru Massacre” was a police operation in a prison (São Paulo, Brazil) that resulted in at least 111 deaths of individuals deprived of their liberty and countless victims of physical and psychological injuries. The delay in holding public agents (military police officers) accountable, the absence of any charges against political agents (the governor and the secretary of security), along with the endless legal proceedings for victim reparations and the complete erasure of this territory with the deactivation of the house of detention and the subsequent construction of a park ( Parque da Juventude ) on the site, reflect the multiple layers of rights violations faced by people under state custody in Brazil and their families. This article aims to highlight the ambiguity of the law’s role in the realm of state violence, observing legal norms and decisions as both producers of violence and mechanisms for recognition, accountability, and reparation. In doing so, it explores ways to describe state violence through the lens of law, without being constrained by legal categories. The proposed reconfiguration draws on a broad documentary archive and multiple interactions with survivors and the territory to analyze the Carandiru Massacre and its implications from the perspective of person, institution, and space.