NGOs report human rights violations in Brazilian prisons to UN

Representatives from the NGOs “Justiça Global”, “Conectas” and “Sociedade Maranhense de Direitos Humanos” reported on Monday (Mar. 10) to the United Nations Human Rights Council deaths and other human rights violations which took place inside the Pedrinhas Penitentiary Complex, in São Luís, capital city of Maranhão, northeastern Brazil.

Vivian Calderoni, a lawyer from Conectas, gave accounts of murders and decapitations. From Geneva, she says the situation in the prison remains critical: “The answer given by the government was to militarize the penitentiary.” Calderoni mentioned a video that shows the Military Police shooting rubber bullets at the back of naked inmates standing up by the wall.

She further says that the precarious state of Brazil’s prison system is not limited to Pedrinhas, and also mentions the shortage of water and food security in Brazilian penitentiaries, as well as other issues, like overcrowding and the detainees’ difficult access to employment, health and education.

These organizations asked UN special rapporteur on torture Juan Méndez to pay the Pedrinhas Penitentiary Complex a visit.

On March 1, one more prisoner was reported killed in Pedrinhas, Maranhão’s largest prison. Altogether four people have died in its facilities since the beginning of the year. According to data from the National Justice Council, the total amount of prisoners murdered in Pedrinhas since the beginning of 2013 reaches 64.

Military Police officers started tightening up the security system in Pedrinhas in December last year, when a riot broke out and left nine dead and at least twenty wounded. At the request of the state government, agents from the National Public Security Force have also collaborated with the inspection of all prison institutions within the metropolitan region of São Luís.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira