Nearly 100 inmates have died in Rio prisons in 2017

In the first five months of 2017 alone, a total of 98 inmates died in the prisons of Rio de Janeiro. The figures come from the State Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration (SEAP), and were presented by state public defensor Emanuel Queiroz on Wednesday (May 30) during a hearing of the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights, at the Rio de Janeiro State Legislature. Overpopulation is the main reason behind the deaths, which are usually a result of health issues, Queiroz said.

According to Nilvone Costa, member of the Permanent Forum for Health in the Penitentiary System, the number of deaths in prison facilities are on the rise. In 2015, cases reported totaled 183, which escalated to 254 the following year. The lack of qualified personnel is also an issue.

“They're 550 technicians altogether, among them doctors, social workers, psychologists, and biologists, serving 51 thousand inmates. It's humanly impossible for our team to provide all the necessary assistance. Prison units don't even have painkillers available. What doctors we have often have to use their own money to buy them,” she reported.

Penitentiary Administration Secretary Colonel Erir Ribeiro admits the shortage of medication at the units, and adds that some facilities can are still in operation because of donations from hospitals.

Former inmate Samuel Lourenço took part in the hearing and talked about the nine years he was in jail. “There's no room in the cells, no supplies for personal hygiene, and diseases spread quickly. The temperature is high, the blankets we lay out on the floor to sleep smell like sweat and there's no water to wash up. There's also a shortage of drinking water, and family members aren't allowed to bring us any,” he recounted.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira