Amnesty International asks for investigation into massacre in Brazilian prison
Amnesty International issued a statement asking for immediate investigation into the massacre and criticizing the overcrowding of the Anísio Jobim prison complex (COMPAJ) in Manaus, where 60 prisoners were killed during a war between two rival drug gangs on January 1. According to data from the Amazonas department for prisons administration, this complex housed 1,200 inmates, although it had the capacity to house only 454.
"The overcrowding and poor conditions of the Anísio Jobim complex, as well as the whole prison system in the Amazonas, had already been reported by the National Council of Justice (CNJ) and the National Mechanism for Preventing and Combating Torture. But the authorities have not adopted the necessary measures and the situation has only worsened," the Amnesty pointed out.
The CNJ has been noting the problems of the Amazonas prison system for a long time. In 2013, when they devoted joint efforts to guarantee a due process to prisoners and inspect prisons in the state, the council and the Amazonas Court of Justice identified that 78% of inmates were held in temporary detention—that is, they had not been tried yet. Among the cases that attracted most attention, there was the one of a man arrested on temporary detention, who had not been released even after being acquitted. He served 474 days in jail due to "the unacceptable lack of information between the judiciary branch and prison units."
Judges for Democracy
The Association of Judges for Democracy (AJD) also criticized the Brazilian government for the death of prisoners, considering the fact "an announced tragedy."
According to the AJD, a non-profit civil society organization, the massacre is a result of the federal position on dealing with social problems as simple police cases and using only a punitive model that, in addition to not working on the resocialization of prisoners, maintains the conditions for massacres like the one registered in the capital of Amazonas. "It is necessary to get rid of the belief in the criminal law as a solution to structural problems, such as the violence arising from poverty and inequality," the association said in a statement released on Tuesday (Jan. 3).
The AJD also defends the end of the "war on drugs", which it considers "irrational" and responsible for the death of thousands of people. For the association, the growing process of mass incarceration abandons a great number of people to the action of gangs that control prisons.
"Old social problems of the country are not solved by incarceration or intimidation of judges who exercise their duty to control the official repressive apparatus. If so, the tragedy of Manaus will continue not being an isolated case," the organization said.
Compensation
The Amazonas government announced that it will pay compensation to the families of prisoners killed in Manaus prison. State Governor José Melo also ordered the Department for Prisons Administration, the Secretariat for Justice, Human Rights and Citizenship, and the Secretariat for Social Assistance to provide the necessary assistance to the dead prisoners' families.
The three secretariats are organizing a working group to initiate assistance procedures. The State Prosecutor General's Office has begun proceedings to pay compensation to the entitled family members, as established by the Federal Constitution and rules of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) and the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
Translated by Amarílis Anchieta
Fonte: Amnesty International asks for investigation into massacre in Brazilian prison
