Pedrinhas on alert

In the midst of a new wave of violence, NGOs are barred from entering the prison

Representatives of human rights organizations were barred from entering the Pre-Trial Detention Center of the Pedrinhas prison complex in São Luís, state of Maranhão, on the morning of Wednesday, June 1. The group, which is a petitioner in a complaint pending in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the OAS (Organization of American States), should have unrestricted access to monitor the situation in the prison complex, which in 2013 was the stage of one of the worst crises in the Brazilian prison system.

The organizations were conducting an inspection in the Triage unit when they heard the loud bang of an explosion coming from the CDP (Pre-Trial Detention Center). When they attempted to access the pavilion to determine what had happened, they were barred entry. The warden of the facility claimed that Decree No. 40/2006 of the State Prison Administration Department, which regulates the entry of NGOs to prisons in the state of Maranhão, was out of date. He also said that the noise had been cause by a door that had come off its hinges.

In a public statement released today, Conectas Human Rights, Justiça Global and the Maranhão Society of Human Rights said that the restriction “just goes to confirm the lack of transparency in the administration of the prisons and the concern that the organizations will encounter full-on and shocking human rights violations”. The organizations today sent an official petition to the Inter-American Court denouncing the incident.

• Click here to read the full document sent to the Court.

This is the first time the organizations have had their entrance barred in the Pedrinhas complex since the inspections were authorized in 2013. Since then, seven inspections have been conducted to check compliance by the State with the precautionary measures approved by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the provisional measures of the Court.

Wave of violence

The restriction on the organizations occurred in the midst of a new wave of violence in the Maranhão state capital of São Luís. In recent weeks, at least 16 attempts have been made to set buses on fire (five were totally incinerated). It is suspected that the attacks were coordinated by the criminal gang Bonde dos 40 and ordered from inside the prison complex.

In February this year, the organizations published a report on the detention conditions in Pedrinhas. The document reveals that gang membership is one of the criteria used to separate the prisoners and that the daily practice of torture and mistreatment, combined with the lack of adequate food and hygiene, has created a climate of extreme tension.

• Click here to read the report in full.