This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 001450 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/BSC 
 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI KCRM BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL'S PRISONS IN STATE OF CRISIS 
 
REF:  A)Brasilia 1073 
 B)Brasilia 011 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY.  The three-day rebellion in Benfica 
Prison in Rio de Janeiro ended May 31, taking place 
six weeks after the gruesome rebellion in the Urso 
Branco prison in Brazil's western Rondonia state.  The 
two uprisings were not isolated events, but rather are 
manifestations of the crisis in Brazil's penitentiary 
system.  There are simply not enough cells to 
accommodate all 308,000 prisoners in Brazil.  Beyond 
overcrowding, prisons also face poor sanitary 
conditions, disease, abuse of prisoners, corrupt 
prison guards and officials, and a shortage of 
funding.  The government needs to invest more in 
n 
building new prisons, but the current priority is 
spending on policing and combating crimes. 
Strengthening the penitentiary system would be part of 
a broader security package aimed to create reasonable 
security, health and sanitary conditions inside 
prisons.  The GoB plans to disburse R$180 million 
(about USD 60 million) for security upgrades decided 
upon by state governments.  END SUMMARY. 
 
RIO'S BENFICA REBELLION 
----------------------- 
¶2.  The May 28-31 Benfica uprising was the second 
longest-lasting rebellion ever in the state of Rio de 
Janeiro.  Thirty inmates and one guard were killed and 
fourteen inmates were injured.  According to Rio's 
Prison Director, Astirio Pereira dos Santos, the 
rebellion began as a battle between rival gangs (Third 
Command vs. Red Command) that went out of control due 
to lack of proper security measures.  The Coordinator 
of the Prison Community Council, Marcelo Freixo, 
pointed out that mixing the different gangs was 
"explosive".  At the time of the uprising, there were 
more than 800 prisoners in the prison; at least 14 
escaped, three of whom were recaptured.  An 
evangelical pastor with experience working in prisons 
joined the negotiations and ended the impasse when he 
persuaded the inmates to free twenty-one hostages. 
Afterward, human rights NGOs were not allowed into the 
institution.  Benfica may be the worst uprising in 
Brazil since the notorious 1992 massacre in Sao 
Paulo's Carandiru prison left 111 inmates dead.  The 
Getulio Vargas Foundation reports that the profile of 
prisoners in Rio de Janeiro is 97% male, 52% in their 
twenties, 67% black, and 43% with less than seven 
years education.  Out of 3,300 prison guards in the 
state, only 1,400 work directly with prisoners, of 
whom there are more than 20,000 (the population has 
doubled in the last five years). 
 
URSO BRANCO UPRISING 
-------------------- 
¶4.  A gruesome April 16 uprising in the Urso Branco 
("White Bear") prison in Porto Velho, the capital of 
Brazil's western Rondonia state, carried a similar 
message about the crisis in the Brazilian penitentiary 
system (ref A).  On April 16, hundreds of prisoners 
rebelled and expelled the guards from the prison, 
keeping 167 hostages (mostly women who had been 
visiting inmates).  During the five-day rebellion, 
fourteen prisoners died, and masked inmates standing 
atop the walls were photographed throwing body parts 
of dismembered victims over the walls.  These victims 
were prisoners said to be informers or unwilling to 
cooperate with the rebellion's leaders.  The prisoners 
were demanding better conditions, and after five days 
Rondonia state Governor Ivo Cassol gave in to most of 
their demands.  The widely broadcast images of the 
brutal rebellion, and Governor Cassol's concessions, 
sparked public debate over prison conditions in 
Brazil. 
 
OAS TAKES BRAZIL TO TASK 
------------------------ 
¶5.  This was not the first outbreak in Urso Branco. 
Some 80 inmates have been killed in riots there over 
the last three years.  In 2002, 27 prisoners were 
killed during a rebellion that began as an escape 
attempt (ref B).  After that episode, the Inter- 
American Commission for Human Rights recommended that 
Brazil adopt measures to protect inmates there.  But 
when the GoB failed to comply with the 
recommendations, the case was sent to the OAS's Inter- 
American Court for Human Rights (becoming the first 
Brazilian case to come before this court).  After this 
April's uprising, the Court summoned Brazil on April 
22 to a public hearing to discuss failures at Urso 
Branco (which holds three times its capacity of 350 
prisoners).  Minister of Justice Marcio Thomaz Bastos 
has publicly admitted that the Urso Branco riot was 
caused by overcrowding. 
 
116,000 INMATES OVER CAPACITY 
----------------------------- 
¶6.  Prison overcrowding is widespread in Brazil.  The 
federal government's National Penitentiary Department 
(NPD) statistics indicate that there are now 308,000 
inmates in jails and prisons nationwide.  When 
President Lula took office in January 2003, there were 
57,000 more inmates than capacity.  This number has 
doubled: there are now 116,000 more prisoners than 
capacity.  In the case of Santa Catarina state, the 
lack of prison space is leading to discontent among 
police, as officers complain that they risk their 
lives to arrest criminals and then watch them walk 
free.  In some cases, police have had to negotiate 
with the courts to decide who should be incarcerated 
and who released.  Overcrowding is also a grave 
problem at Sao Paulo's FEBEM juvenile detention 
centers, which register frequent escapes and other 
problems.  One of the most common requests made by 
detainees in all Brazilian prisons (as well as by 
violence specialists) is to separate common prisoners 
from the most dangerous inmates, a measure that could 
reduce violence and uprisings. 
 
¶7.  Along with overcrowding, lack of good sanitary 
conditions, diseases and abuse of prisoners are 
commonplace and are described by human rights 
organizations including Human Rights Watch and the 
Human Rights National Movement.  Prisoners are 
subjected to unhealthy conditions.  The Ministry of 
Health reports that tuberculosis and AIDS are common 
in the inmate population. 
 
¶8.  Brazil's 1988 Constitution mandates that the 
states are responsible for the penitentiary system. 
In reality, the states generally fund much of their 
public security budgets with federal money.  Thus, 
tight federal budgets have forced Security 
Secretariats in all twenty-seven states to request 
 
SIPDIS 
specific federal funds for public security, including 
for the penitentiary system.  Former senior official 
at the Ministry of Justice Elizabeth Sussekind said in 
press reports that the scarce resources available in 
the states are usually destined for police forces and 
to combat crime: "The lack of resources together with 
the government's not paying attention is explosive," 
she noted.    She admits that Brazil is behind other 
countries on the issue of human rights in prisons. 
 
¶9.  To avoid more riots and to accommodate all 
prisoners, the National Penitentiary Department is 
planning to begin building three new penitentiaries in 
¶2004.  By the end of Lula's term in December 2006, 
five maximum-security prisons are planned, one of 
which is a new prison in Rondonia.  Edison Vidigal, 
the new Chief Justice of Brazil's Supreme Justice 
Tribunal, has recently proposed building a maximum 
security prison on an island off Brazil's coast.  With 
the bloody uprising in Rondonia's Urso Branco prison 
and drug traffickers in Rio's Rocinha favela capturing 
the headlines this year, the GoB announced in late 
April the release of R$180 million (about USD 60 
million) for security investments in all states.  This 
money is important to the states, since the federal 
government has only released R$1.8 million (about USD 
600,000) for public security investments nationwide 
this year. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶10.  It is not news that Brazilian prisons are in a 
state of crisis and have been for years.  The Lula 
administration, like previous governments has not come 
up with funding or an effective plan to address the 
problem.  The outlook is not promising, as President 
Lula has slashed funding for a whole range of social 
programs in such a constricted budget environment, it 
remains to be seen whether money and political will 
are available to address the deepening prison crisis. 
HRINAK