Event: mass incarceration is not Justice

Criminal Justice Network launches campaign with debate and virtual reality experience

To present the reality inside the Brazilian prison system and to debate solutions are the goals of the campaign “Mass incarceration is not Justice”, to be launched by the Criminal Justice Network on Tuesday, June 13, in São Paulo, in partnership with the Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP).

The campaign was developed with the participation of people who voluntarily took part in a virtual reality experience that reproduced the environment of an overcrowded prison cell. The video was narrated by Emerson Ferreira, an ex-prisoner who spoke personally with the participants after their experience.

Ferreira currently has a degree in psychology and is one of the debaters confirmed for the event. He will be accompanied by Dexter, a rapper and also an ex-prisoner; Dina Alves, a social scientist and activist in the black movement; Sidney Sales, a survivor of the Carandiru prison massacre; and Father Valdir Silveira, the national coordinator of Pastoral Carcerária, the Catholic Church’s prisoner outreach service.

Together, they will tell stories about life and struggles inside the Brazilian prison system, which is the fourth largest in the world with a population of 620,000 people. According to data from the Ministry of Justice from December 2014, most of these prisoners are young, black offenders who committed non-violent crimes such as drug trafficking or theft.

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“The situation in Brazilian prisons is medieval and subhuman. The importance of this campaign, therefore, lies in raising awareness among people who are often oblivious to what goes on inside the prison system, which is today one of the main sources of human rights violations,” said Janaína Homerin, executive secretary of the Criminal Justice Network.

The Network will repeat the virtual reality experience at the Monte Alegre campus of the Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) on June 12 and 13, when it will also launch the video “Visceral Reality”, produced from the reactions of nearly 300 people to the experience. A website will host all the content, including an electronic petition through which the public can express their support for the campaign.

Watch the teaser of “Visceral Reality”:

About the Criminal Justice Network

The Criminal Justice Network is formed by eight non-governmental organizations engaged in the criticism of imprisonment as the State’s response to crime. These organizations are: Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship (CESeC); Conectas Human Rights; Office of Legal Counsel to Grassroots Organizations (GAJOP); Land, Employment and Citizenship Institute (ITTC); Defense of the Right to a Defense Institute (IDDD); Sou da Paz Institute; Defenders of Human Rights Institute (DDH); and Justiça Global.

Event

• Launch: Mass incarceration is not Justice
• Where: Tucarena theater – Rua Monte Alegre, 1024 – Perdizes, São Paulo
• Date: Tuesday, June 13, at 7 pm
• Debaters: Emerson Ferreira, Dina Alves, Dexter, Sidney Sales and Father Valdir Silveira
• Opening: Hugo Leonardo (Defense of the Right to a Defense Institute – IDDD) and Antônio Carlos Malheiros (Culture and Community Relations Officer at PUC-SP)