Brazil has world's third largest prison population
Brazil has the world's third largest prison population, behind only the United States (2.2 million prisoners) and China (1.7 million).
Currently 715,655 people are imprisoned in Brazil, according to a new study titled, “A New Insight into Prisoner Populations in Brazil” (“Novo Diagnóstico de Pessoas Presas no Brasil”) a groundbreaking survey conducted by the National Council for Justice ("CNJ") that heard judges from all 27 Brazilian states. The number includes 148,000 convicts serving house arrest due to shortage of accommodation in the prison system, who had not been counted into previous surveys.
The CNJ study has also found that there are 373,991 pending arrest warrants
Based on the World Prison Population List published by the International Centre for Prison Studies, a partner of the University of Essex (UK), Brazil has the world's third largest prison population, behind only the United States (2.2 million prisoners) and China (1.7 million). The current prison population rate in Brazil is 358 prisoners for every 100,000 residents.
The CNJ study has also found that there are 373,991 pending arrest warrants, which, if served, could raise the number of prisoners to 1,089,646 and the prison shortage to 732,427 beds.
All this only reflects how “punishment-driven our mindset is,” according to the deputy Prosecutor-General, Ela Wiecko. The survey does not cover convicts serving the so-called “restrictive sentences”, i.e. alternative, non-custodial sentences, Wiecko noted. “All in all, it would get to as many as 1.5 million people at least under some kind of judicial restraint.”
Wiecko pointed out that “Brazilian authorities and Brazilians at large should all set a limit on how much can be spent on this type of approach [imprisonment]” – this, as well as finding new ways to handle conflicts, she added. “Dealing with criminal offenses through criminal prosecution is an easy, first-thought approach, but then you see what's actually going on out there. Prisons should be more than mere human warehouses,” she concluded.
The CNJ expects that the new study can provide a basis for new public policies.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Brazil's third largest prison population
