Privatization of prisons?
If adopted nationally, the privatization of prisons would generate a large increase in the country’s prison population, said Marcos Fuchs, associate director of Conectas, at a press conference for the participants of the 1st Course on Journalism and Human Rights, held on Saturday (October 18).
According to the expert, privatizing prisons means turning prisoners into merchandise and turning public security into a highly profitable industry for companies, as well as raising the chances of an increase in the number of prisoners. Currently, the country has the world’s fourth largest prison population.
“Under the current model, the State pays companies nearly R$2,800 per month per prisoner. This makes greater incarceration more likely, since imprisoning people is good business,” explained Fuchs.
Currently, each detainee costs the public coffers nearly R$1,300 per month. In the contracts already signed between state governments and companies (such as in Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina and Espírito Santo), the average amount paid to the company that will manage the system is R$2,700 per month per prisoner.
However, in addition to the Federal Constitution, which states that security is an essential and exclusive function of government, Resolution 08/2002 of the CNPCP (National Criminal and Prison Policy Council), states that the services of prison security, administration, management of the facilities, discipline, effective monitoring and assessment of the individualization of prison sentence enforcement may not be delegated to the private sector.
“The police arrest a suspect, the prosecutor indicts him and the judge makes a ruling. If he is sentenced to prison, then he must serve his sentence. It is the State, therefore, that is responsible for the prisoner,” explained Fuchs.
He also stressed the lack of any rule requiring suspects to appear before a judge immediately after the arrest – which would also prevent mistreatment and torture and raise the chances of suspects being released ahead of their trial. Such hearings before a judge are already established by the American Convention on Human Rights, of which Brazil is a signatory, but their creation in Brazil still requires the approval of a Senate Bill (554/2011).
Course
Based on the lecture and the press conference with Fuchs, the students wrote an article on the topics that were addressed. By the end of the course, at least one of each student’s articles should have been published in a media outlet with a responsible editor.
Once a week, the journalists Bruno Paes Manso, Carolina Trevisan, Cláudia Belfort and Fausto Salvadori Filho, of the Ponte group, will hold one-on-one educational sessions with the students. The educational supervision will be conducted by the journalist João Paulo Charleaux.
The 1st Course on Journalism and Human Rights, a module that is part of the Reporter of the Future Project, is being organized by Conectas in partnership with OBORÉ, Ponte, Abraji (Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism) and IPFD (Institute of Research, Training and Dissemination in Social Public Policies).
