This cell was considered the safest place for him – despite the crowded conditions and the lack of nearby guards.īrazil’s prisons are a human rights disaster, but those in the northeastern state of Pernambuco are both deplorable and the country’s most overcrowded, according to a new Human Rights Watch report, “The State Let Evil Take Over.” Pernambuco’s prisons hold three times as many people as official capacity. He was locked up here after being gang raped in another prison. This was one of three cells in the “punishment and transfer” wing, designed for prisoners who had either broken the prison’s rules or for those transferred from other prisons for a hearing in the state capital.
Although the room had electric lights, a narrow slit in the door was the only place sunlight and fresh air trickled through. The windowless prison cell held 37 men, including “Jorge.” It was hot, and there was just enough space for the men to sleep close together on the floor. © 2015 César Muñoz Acebes/Human Rights Watch Without bunks or mattresses, all 37 inmates in this cell sleep on the floor. Inmates in a windowless cell in the “punishment and transfer” area at Presídio Juiz Antônio Luiz L.
