Authorities join efforts to deal with Maranhão prison crisis

Criado em 10/01/14 17h01 e atualizado em 10/01/14 17h03
Por Mariana Jungmann Fonte:Agência Brasil

Brasília – The Minister of Justice, José Eduardo Cardozo, and the governor of the Northeast Brazilian state of Maranhão, Roseanna Sarney, are putting together a series of efforts to address flaws in the state prison system. The announcement followed a meeting in the capital, São Luís, on Thursday (Jan. 9).

An eleven-item plan includes creating a managing committee to deal with the prison crisis in the state, with the responsibility of coordinating local efforts on executive, legislative, and judicial levels.

Among other action items, the public defense service will set up a task force to review prisoners' cases with the aim of expediting release of those who have already served jail times and looking for other solutions, like using remote tracking systems with low-danger prisoners who are found eligible for the benefit. Those steps are designed to help relieve the burden on the state's badly overcrowded prison system.

Cardozo and Ms Sarney promised to have leaders of criminal gangs who commanded violent attacks from inside prisons in São Luís last week relocated to federal prisons by next week. They ordered raids on police stations and bus torchings that left a child dead from burns and her mother and sister badly injured in hospital.

In addition to the attacks, images of inmate decapitations were circulated by other fellow prisoners, and some inmates' wives were raped while visiting their husbands in prison.

In a statement on Thursday, the Association of Brazilian Magistrates (AMB) expressed consternation over the incidents and accused the state government of trying to turn the responsibility for the prison crisis on the legal system.

“Chaos in the Maranhão prison system, which degenerates into urban violence, can only be put down to a historical scarcity of investment and public policies in the area, which created a shortage of over 2,500 places in state prisons,” the note read.

Edited by Aécio Amado / Nira Foster
Translated by Mayra Borges