The 'State of Exception' is the Rule: Notes on The Little Prison, a Book by Igor Mendes

Abstract

In A pequena prisão, Igor Mendes describes the process of brutal repression to which were submitted the 23 political activists considered “dangerous” by the Justice and processed under the accusation of having a strong action in the organization of violent acts in the popular demonstrations of 2013 and 2014. In this essay, I return to the accounts of Igor’s prison experience during the months in which he was imprisoned in Bangu, starting with a dialogue with the concept of “literature of testimony” and with works of critical criminology.