The UN says Brazil has never adopted recommendations on prisons.

Débora Brito, reporter for Agência Brasil - The Special Secretariat for Human Rights published the report prepared by the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (UN/SPT) on the inspection carried out in prisons in four Brazilian states in October 2015. The conclusions were sent to the Brazilian government in November of last year and made public this week by the secretariat.

In the report, experts warn about overcrowding at the Anísio Jobim Penitentiary Complex (Compaj) in Manaus, which, at the time of the international visit, housed 1.203 prisoners when its capacity was only 450. The document highlights that overcrowding increases stress levels and leads to competition for space and limited resources.

From October 19 to 30, 2015, five experts from the UN subcommittee visited 22 police stations, prisons, pre-trial detention centers, juvenile facilities, prison hospitals, and forensic institutions in Brasília, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, and Amazonas, where a series of riots claimed the lives of 60 people on the first day of the year.

UN experts also cited an incident that occurred at the complex in 2002, when 12 prisoners were killed. They warned that overcrowding could lead to a similar incident at any time. A few months after the warning, the prison was the scene of several riots and 56 people died in less than 24 hours.

Lack of security

Margarida Pressburger, a member of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who was the representative of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture in Brazil until last month, confirms that the situation in Amazonas prisons had already been highlighted by experts.

"The comment I heard from them about Manaus, in 2015, was about the lack of security in the prisons. And the issue of security is one of the points most observed by the subcommittee. Prisoners also need security, and nobody cares about that. The prison population is invisible and undesirable. And what generates this type of crisis is the inhumane treatment, in addition to the issue of rival factions being placed together. Then it's war, they really kill each other," said Margarida.

In the case of Roraima, the state where the massacre of more than 30 people occurred in an agricultural penitentiary, there has not yet been an inspection by the international subcommittee. The precarious situation of the prisons was also mentioned during meetings between UN experts and members of the National Mechanism for the Prevention and Combat of Torture, an agency created by the government and also composed of civil society representatives.

"This tragedy that occurred in Amazonas and Roraima was predicted, as it was in other states across the country. The prison situation in Brazil is very worrying. First, because the prison population is very large, greater than the number of inhabitants in many cities, and second, because of the precarious conditions in which the inmates are kept," stated Margarida.

The report also states that overcrowding in prisons continued to be a problem in the country, despite recommendations made by the UN to the Brazilian government in the report from its previous visit, which took place in 2011 in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, and Goiás.

"The report is practically identical to the one from 2011. None of the measures suggested by the UN were adopted by Brazil. The country ignored the recommendations of the subcommittee," said the member of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The full results of the 2015 inspection were confidentially presented by the UN to Brazil on November 24th of last year. The secretary of the UN Subcommittee in Geneva, Joao Nataf, informed Agência Brasil that the country has six months from that date to respond to the report, a deadline that expires in May.

In response, the Special Secretariat for Human Rights stated that it will not comment and that the matter is being handled internally within the Ministry of Justice and Citizenship, to which the secretariat is linked. Responses to the UN recommendations are being prepared in conjunction with other government agencies.

International inspection

Visits by independent international and national bodies to places of deprivation of liberty follow the parameters of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT), of which Brazil is one of the 80 signatory countries. The protocol establishes a system of regular visits with the intention of preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the prison system.

Although the conclusions and recommendations of the subcommittee's inspections are sent confidentially, the member state is encouraged to publicize the content of the reports and, within six months of being notified, must submit its responses to the UN recommendations. If the country fails to respond within the established deadline, it may be expelled from the Protocol.