Public statement: reckless and unconstitutional
Use of armed forces in prisons breaches Constitution and demonstrates government ill-preparedness
The use of the armed forces inside prisons is a measure that will cause more violations against the prison population – since these troops are trained to treat citizens as the “enemy” in exceptional situations of warfare – and constitutes a deviation from their constitutionally assigned role, making it therefore unconstitutional.
It should be pointed out that the members of the armed forces, besides being trained and armed for very specific situations, have their own code of discipline, are answerable to their own criminal law (Military Criminal Code) and are tried by their own military courts, all elements based on the logic of war. As such, the use of these forces should be restricted to extremely exceptional situations, which is not the case here.
In reality, the Decree of the Presidency of the Republic once again demonstrates the ill-preparedness of the federal authorities to cope with the countless rights violations endured by imprisoned men and women in Brazil. Even though more than 130 people have been killed in prisons across the country since the start of the year, the government refuses to address the true causes of the prison chaos: the policy of mass incarceration, which has caused Brazil to have the world’s fourth largest prison population, and the ongoing disrespect for the basic rights of prisoners.
Until there is a review of criminal policy, in particular concerning drug policy and other non-violent crimes, we believe that the measures announced to date represent false solutions that are incapable of changing the abusive and deficient structure of the Brazilian prison system.
Finally, the argument that the armed forces are needed to guarantee “law and order”, which is used in the Decree, is reminiscent of darker times in Brazilian history, and we condemn any attempt by the federal government to regard Brazilian citizens, prisoners or not, as a threat that justifies military intervention of this nature.
