The prison outside and above the law

A process of erosion of prison boundaries also occurs when centers of power and decision move outside the walls and into higher administrative structures, when legal injunctions condition prison staff activities, and when the interior of the prison is increasingly monitored by various mechanisms for preventing and combating torture. In analyzing the reports of the Rio de Janeiro Public Defender's Office, made by its prison system monitoring program, I seek to identify dynamics that characterize that broader process in this particular context, as well as inform about its scope and limits.