Maranhão wants to transfer 35 inmates.
The state government has sent the Ministry of Justice a list with the names of 35 prisoners who may be transferred to federal prisons; most are in the Pedrinhas Penitentiary Complex in São Luís and are accused of leading criminal factions.
Alex Rodrigues
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Brasilia – The government of Maranhão has sent the Ministry of Justice a list with the names of 35 prisoners who may be transferred to federal prisons, according to the ministry. Most of the group is in the Pedrinhas Penitentiary Complex in São Luís (MA), and they are accused of leading criminal factions that are vying for control of drug trafficking in the state and of orchestrating violent acts.
Initially, the state government had requested the transfer of 50 inmates. The ministry informed Agência Brasil that the first analysis of the prisoners' profiles is carried out by the National Penitentiary Department (Depen). The department has already identified that, of the 35 prisoners listed, only nine meet the requirements of Decree 6.877/2009 and are eligible to be transferred to the Federal Penitentiary System. Of the nine detainees, the Maranhão court has already authorized the transfer of two. Only the approval of the Federal Court is now needed for them to be transferred. The remaining seven inmates are still awaiting a ruling from the state judge.
Offered by the Ministry of Justice, the transfer is one of 11 measures in the plan to combat violence in the Maranhão prison system, announced after attacks on buses and police stations in São Luís on the 6th of this month. One of the attacks resulted in the death of 6-year-old Ana Clara Santos Souza, who was inside one of the vehicles.
According to the ministry, there are currently 22 prisoners from Maranhão in federal facilities.