Brazil: Serious concern regarding the human rights of prisoners

A delegation from the Province of Brazil visited a state prison in Goiás last week.  The delegation included the Primate, the General Secretary, the local priest, and representatives of the USPG and the Roman Catholic Prison Pastoral.  

It was a painful experience.  The prison infrastructure is in disrepair.  The prisoners live in terrible conditions described as inhospitable and unhealthy.   There was water leakages in the building as well as other serious violations to the dignity of the prisoners. The delegation visited one of the institution’s blocks.  They did not visit the other areas for safety reasons, on the recommendation of the superintendent. Block A is overcrowded with an unacceptable occupancy of up to six prisoners per individual cell. 

"The feeling I experienced was to be in a completely parallel world, isolated from the rules of dignity and human respect. The atmosphere was one of pain and fear.   A permanent state of tension between state agents and prisioners generates high emotional stress, ready to explode any time."

"We heard several complaints of maltreatment, violence, torture and the non-observance of the visitation rights of prisoners. The food served for lunch was low-quality, low-calorie and cold. Some items of food are stale.  

The Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, through the local priest Revd. Elias Vergara, is member of a community council created to monitor the the observance of respect for prisoners’ constitutional rights and to guarantee that prisoners’ appeals are heard by authorities. This serious commitment is not easy to honour in a society that stigmatizes people who are in prison. 

"What we saw in Goiânia is only a small display of what we hear about others prisons around the whole country.  For many years I did not go to a penal institution and went a few times as a practicing lawyer, but what I saw in Goiânia was like the replay of that horror movie, with only one difference: new faces! The scenario is the same, the sadness is the same!"

"In this season of Advent the experience marked me deeply and I began to think of the Lord’s answer to those who believed themselves as loyal followers: I was imprisoned and you did not visit me!"

"May God raise in our hearts the love for those who are stigmatized by their conditons as prisioners and pardon us for our insensitivity for those who are searching for an opportunity to re-discover the value of freedom."

Fonte: Rev. Cônego Francisco de Assis da Silva
Secretário Geral
Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil (IEAB)