Archiving and Triggering

Preliminary Investigations by the São Paulo Penitentiary Administration between Administrative and Civil (Ir)responsibility

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2026/95514

This article examines the preliminary investigations conducted by the São Paulo Penitentiary Administration (SAP) in cases of deaths in prison custody. Drawing on interviews with public defenders and SAP officials, conducted between August 2024 and February 2025, as well as the analysis of normative, administrative, and judicial documents, it highlights the dual functioning of these procedures. While systematically archived and lacking adversarial guarantees, preliminary investigations are mobilized in civil compensation lawsuits as evidence of state diligence and the absence of liability. The research demonstrates how this dual legal status transforms administrative documents into instruments of state defense, obscuring institutional failures and limiting the recognition of families’ rights. The article contributes by highlighting how the same document operates simultaneously as a mechanism for administrative closure and as judicial evidence, constituting a make-believe that produces concrete effects in absolving the State of responsibility for deaths occurring under its custody.