The debates around the need for a penitentiary in Santa Catarina began in the 1920s, when Florianópolis was undergoing an urban remodeling in search of modern air. So that these airs could be effectively achieved, the local authorities were based on hygienist precepts and relied on a strong police apparatus to control the population. Reports and news from the period show that the discourse defended was that the portion of residents considered “undesirable” for the progress of the city – such as beggars, prostitutes, washerwomen and street vendors – should be removed from the streets and placed in “appropriate” places, such as hospices, disciplinary institutes and penitentiaries. The Pedra Grande Penitentiary began to be built in 1929 and was inaugurated in 1930, with the presence of big names in Santa Catarina politics, a considerable portion of the population of Florianópolis and even a band. At the time, the place where the penitentiary was built was considered far enough from the center and difficult to access, as it was located between a hill and a mangrove swamp. Still in the 1930s, the penitentiary underwent its first renovation, where a new pavilion, seven workshops, a chapel and classrooms were built. There were also changes in the administrative part of the institution, the main one being the hiring of doctors who aimed to take care of the health of the inmates and study the causes of the “phenomenon” of crime. Between the 1940s and 1950s, the penitentiary gained three new galleries and several new workshops, especially those for carpentry, tailoring and crafts. In 1965, the entire administrative part was transferred to a three-story block built in front of the other buildings. In the 1980s, the single beds in the cells were replaced by concrete bunk beds. The penitentiary's maximum security wing, with capacity for 44 convicts, began to be built in 1989. However, with the violent rebellions that took place during the 1990s, a good part of the improvements made over the years were seriously compromised, which harmed the process of resocialization to which the institution proposes. In 2011, the penitentiary turned 81 and, on the occasion of his birthday, director Leandro Soares de Lima inaugurated a permanent space called “Memory of the Penitentiary”. The collection - composed of photographs, documents and objects - has already served as an internship field for students of the History course at Udesc and proposes reflection, thus contributing to the institution's humanizing strategy.
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