Prison Life In Brazil

The quality of correctional and criminal justice system connections is the determining feature of each country’s level of economic and social development. The more controlled the correctional system, the more orderly the overall image of the country appears. In the United States, the long history of the penitentiary system has contributed in the improvement of legal principles of corrections and criminal justice: the prison life in the U.S. has lost its negative features, and a range of recovery and rehabilitation programs work to make prisoners “better people”. Brazilian correction systems are surrounded by an array of legal and human rights debates; in the current correction systems, the levels of safety and security leaves much to be desirable, while the absence of a well-built system of probation and rehabilitation considerably reduces ex-prisoners’ life chances of returning to “normal community” life.

Population

Presently the

correctional system in Brazil is based on the Penal Code of 1940. Brazil has approximately 4,300 penal institutions in operation, including correctional institutions, penitentiaries, houses of custody and treatment; these are accompanied by military prisons, adult prisons, jails, and juvenile institutions (Roth, 2006). The general prison population in Brazil grew by 74 percent between 2005 and 2012, with more than half a million detainees (Human Rights Watch, 2015). The rates of prison population growth in Brazil vary from state to state: in San Paulo alone, every month 1,000 of new prisoners enter the system (Lemburger, 2006). In the U.S., the number of incarcerated persons in 2008 was 9.8 million (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009).
Prison life and human rights
Prison life in Brazil is associated with serious overcrowding and continuous negligence toward human rights issues.

“Overcrowding leading to waves of unrest, riots, and a major prison-building program has marked Brazilian prisons. Many cells rely on primitive sanitation, as Spartan as a pan on the floor in place of a toilet” (Roth, 2006). Many institutions serve only one meal a day, and cells usually have no beds. Beyond these technical issues, Brazil frequently disregards the incidence of rape and murder in state prisons (Roth, 2006). First-time offenders are often placed with more serious criminals, which lead to rape and discrimination against younger offenders. 651 inmates were killed during the first half of 2007; during riots, inmates burn themselves to death, kill and injure each other (Human Rights Watch, 2008) Lottery murdering is a widely-accepted form of relieving overcrowding in Brazilian prisons (Roth, 2008). The current 420,000 inmates exceed the system’s capacity by almost 200,000 prisoners (Human Rights Watch,

2008).
Conclusion
Although Brazilian system was influenced by the prison developments in America, the two systems are dramatically different. These differences are particularly visible through the prism of human rights protection in state prisons. Brazilian system of state prisons can be fairly regarded as unreformed and primitive. The quality of Brazilian prison life leaves much room for improvement. The U.S. way of managing prisons is the bright example Brazil can use in the process of gradual prison system improvements.