Brazilian Penitentiary System Shows Social Abyss, says Researcher

Brasilia, Jan 6 (Prensa Latina) More than economic, social and racial inequity, the degrading Brazilian penitentiary system reflects today the abyss existing in terms of access to justice and guarantee of fundamental rights, said researcher Camila Nunes Dias.

To describe in one phrase the jail system of Brazil, I would say 'it is a machine to destroy persons, do away with their dignity, their health and their dreams', resumed the also professor at the Federal ABC University of Sao Paulo.

Interviewed by portal Vermelho, of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCdoB) regarding the massacre occurred at the beginning of this year at the Penitentiary Complex Anisio Jobim, in Manaus (Amazon), where 56 inmates were killed, described by president Michel Temer the eve as a 'terrifying accident'.

Following the bloody rebellion, the office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights said this is not an isolated case, but 'a reflection of the chronic situation' of the jails of Brazil.

In a message spread here, the UN High Commissioner demanded of Brazilian authorities to open 'an immediate, impartial and effective investigation' of the bloody incident and those resulting responsible be taken to justice.

Nunes Dias recognized it is difficult to describe the present scenario of the prisons in the country. It is a very big system with peculiarities in each state, but with something in common in every case: dreadful, degrading conditions of confinement, valued the member of the Study Nucleus on Violence of the Paulist university.

The jail institutions do nothing but submit inmates to suffering, violating their rights and stigmatizing them, deepening in them a 'criminal' identity, she indicated.

The eve, the interim head of the General Prosecution of the Republic (PGR), Nicolao Dino, announced they will investigate penitentiaries in the states of Amazon, Rio Grande do Sul, Pernambuco and Rondonia, in order to determine possible non-compliance of 'constitutional and infra-constitutional norms'.

The PGR recalled in a note broadcast here that the State of Brazil responds to the Interamerican System of Human Rights for violations detected in prisons of Rio Grande do Sul, Rondonia, Pernambuco, Maranhao and Sao Paulo.