{"id":20898,"date":"2020-05-08T13:27:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T13:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&p=20898"},"modified":"2021-04-01T17:28:32","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T17:28:32","slug":"in-the-past-brazil-has-tried-to-overcome-overcrowding-by-using-shipping-containers-this-is-now-being-put-forward-as-a-solution-to-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-prisons","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/in-the-past-brazil-has-tried-to-overcome-overcrowding-by-using-shipping-containers-this-is-now-being-put-forward-as-a-solution-to-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-prisons\/","title":"In the past Brazil has tried to overcome overcrowding by using shipping containers. This is now being put forward as a solution to the impact of Covid-19 on prisons.","content":"

The possibility of using containers to isolate prisoners who may have Covid-19 is being analysed by the CNPCP (National Committee for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy). This proposal, which is harshly criticised by civil society, has a long history in Brazil and is re-emerging as a measure to rectify the lack of places and conceal the causes of mass incarceration.<\/p>\n

In 2010, UN officials, diplomats and representatives from delegations and embassies who attended the 13th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held at the headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), were perplexed to hear reports by Brazilian non- governmental organisations concerning\u00a0s<\/strong><\/span>erious violations in the Esp\u00edrito<\/span> Santo\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>penitentiary system.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to ill-treatment and overcrowding the\u00a0Pastoral da Crian\u00e7a<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a>, \u00a0Justi\u00e7a\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Global<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0and Conectas drew attention to, at least,\u00a0500 men in iron containers<\/strong>, inside which room temperature reached as much as 50 degrees.<\/p>\n

These improvised \u00b4cells\u00b4 were known as \u00b4microwaves\u00b4 by the prisoners, as the people detained in them were almost cooking. The United Nations and the OAS (Organisation of American States) considered the practice as \u201canalogous to torture\u201d and an \u201cattack on human life\u201d.<\/p>\n

For further reading:\u00a0NGOs condemn proposal to isolate prisoners in containers to\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>combat Covid-19<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Immediately following this condemnation, the 6th session of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice), awarded a writ of habeas corpus to an accused who was being held in one of these structures in the Provisional Detention Centre in Cariacica in Esp\u00edrito Santo and his pre-trial detention was changed to house arrest.<\/p>\n

Despite international repercussions and this paradigmatic judicial decision, the use of this \u00b4model\u00b4 has not been confined to Esp\u00edrito Santo over the years. The Pastoral\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Carcer\u00e1ria<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>, connected to the CNBB (National Conference of Brazilian Bishops), which has been working inside Brazilian prisons for decades, reported the use of containers as
\ncells in at least three states in the country: Mato Grosso, Par\u00e1 and Paran\u00e1, to the CNJ (National Board of Justice), the Ministry of Justice and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the then Secretary for Public Security in Rio Grande do Sul, Cezar Schirmer, announced the use of the metal structures to increase the number of places in the state prison system. At a press conference he stated that the experiment in Santa Catarina had been \u201ca great success\u201d and that opinions to the contrary were \u201cprejudiced points of
\nview\u201d.<\/p>\n

A decision to disburse R$70 thousand to purchase containers was issued by Judge Carlos Fernando Noschang, at the Criminal Court of Novo Hamburgo. However, a move by the state Public Defender\u00b4s Office in 2019 prohibited their use and ordered relocation of prisoners to detention centres.<\/p>\n

In the same year, in an incident that was dubbed \u00b4The Altamira Massacre\u00b4, in Par\u00e1 dozens of prisoners locked in container cells died of suffocation caused by smoke from a fire arising from a dispute between factions.<\/p>\n