HomeNewsBriefBrazil Jailing People 'Excessively': UN
BRIEF

Brazil Jailing People 'Excessively': UN

BRAZIL / 29 MAR 2013 BY CLAIRE O NEILL MCCLESKEY EN

The United Nations has criticized the "excessive use of detentions" in Brazil, feeding the problems faced by the country's struggling penitentiary system. 

The UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions said there was a "worrying trend" in the use of detention as a first resort and noted that out of the total incarcerated population of 550,000 people, 217,000 prisoners were still awaiting trial, reported the BBC. It expressed concern the problem could increase in the lead up to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, both of which Brazil is hosting.

The Working Group highlighted discrimination against indigenous people with regards to pre-trial detention and incarceration, noting a 33 percent increase in the proportion of indigenous prisoners in the general jail population in recent years.

The report also criticized deficiencies in Brazil's justice system that disproportionately affect poor Brazilians, such as the insufficient number of public defenders, reported Brazilian newspaper O Globo.

InSight Crime Analysis

Brazil has one of the largest prison populations in the world and its penal system struggles with discipline and serious overcrowding. Criminal gangs are known to conduct their activities from inside jail, most notably São Paulo's First Capital Command (PCC), which formed in prison in 1993.

As the Working Group acknowledged, the Brazilian government has taken some steps to try and reduce the overuse of pre-trial detentions. In 2011, Brazil passed a judicial reform law which mandated that pre-trial detention should be used as a last resort and prohibited the use of pretrial detention for first-time offenders accused of nonviolent crimes.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 14 JUN 2022

A large-scale seizure of Irganox 1076 in Brazil show that this cutting agent is now being used to cut large…

BRAZIL / 1 AUG 2022

Brazil’s cocaine and marijuana markets were affected very differently by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ARGENTINA / 5 JUL 2022

Why did drug trafficking enjoy such a boom during the COVID-19 pandemic…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…