{"id":5547,"date":"2016-02-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.conectas.org.inf.br\/wp\/noticias\/hygiene-food-and-health\/"},"modified":"2021-03-22T19:52:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T19:52:00","slug":"hygiene-food-and-health","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/hygiene-food-and-health\/","title":"Hygiene, food and health","content":"<div class=\"tts_content_wrapper_1\" ><p>Based on interviews conducted with dozens of prisoners during the inspections over the past two years, the organizations concluded that the causes of the disgust and riots among the prisoners go beyond the violence of the disputes between rival gangs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe prisoners themselves usually call the riots \u2018demands\u2019. In the vast majority of cases, they are only asking not to have to eat spoiled food, not to have to drink dirty water and to be able to sleep without rats and cockroaches. It is not about a show of power, but about respect for human dignity,\u201d said Lu\u00eds Ant\u00f4nio Pedrosa, president of the Human Rights Commission of the OAB-MA.<\/p>\n<p>The combination of insalubrity, appalling hygiene conditions and spoiled food causes many of the prisoners to fall ill, and it also generates a climate of permanent disgust among the inmates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know we are here because we are paying for our mistakes, but we are also human beings and we are being treated like \u2018wild beasts\u2019,\u201d said one of the detainees from the CCPJ (Prisoner Custody Center). \u201cTell them [the prison board] that if our situation doesn\u2019t improve, we will go on a hunger strike,\u201d threatened another.<\/p>\n<p>According to Pedrosa, during the last riot at the CDP (Provisional Detention Center), in early November 2015, the prisoners were demanding an improvement in the conditions for serving their sentences, better hygiene in the areas reserved for conjugal visits and permission to receive food from their families \u2013 an alternative to the meals provided by Masam, the catering company that supplies all the units at the complex.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe food has already turned sour by the time we get it. I can\u2019t bear the smell of this food, let alone eat it,\u201d said one inmate from the CDP. \u201cEveryone here is starving and malnourished,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/78ODbtV-Ba4\" width=\"680\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Complaints like this were heard in all the cells at the units that were visited. The quality of the food and the lack of set meal times are the main grievances of the prisoners.\u00a0The waste bins outside the cells are full of half-eaten meals at lunchtime. Often, the prisoners prefer to go hungry. The sour stench of the food mixed with the smell of mold, sewage and unwashed bodies is suffocating.<\/p>\n<p>The area looks fit only for the rats and cockroaches that infest the walls and hallways. The presence of these pests is so bad and so bothersome that the prisoners put their sandals between the bars to try, unsuccessfully, to block their entrance.<\/p>\n<p>At all the units visited, it was found that the prisoners only receive one uniform \u2013 two shirts, a pair of shorts, a pair of trousers and sandals \u2013 to last them months. Often the shirts are used as floor cloths to soak up the water that seeps into the cells. With no soap, the detainees wash themselves using the laundry detergent they receive when cleaning products are distributed.<\/p>\n<p>According to the report of the National Mechanism to Combat and Prevent Torture, each \u2018hygiene kit\u2019, which consists of a tube of toothpaste, a shaver, deodorant and soap, costs the government R$13.17.<\/p>\n<p>They are distributed every four months and, according to the prisoners, there is not enough to meet their needs. Neither do they have permission to receive hygiene products from their families.<\/p>\n<p>The conditions found at Pedrinhas do not come close to complying with items 1 and 18 of the \u201cMandela Rules\u201d. Respectively, they specify that \u201call prisoners shall be treated with the respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings\u201d and that \u201cprisoners shall be required to keep their persons clean, and to this end they shall be provided with water and with such toilet articles as are necessary for health and cleanliness\u201d; \u201cIn order that prisoners may maintain a good appearance compatible with their self-respect, facilities shall be provided for the proper care of the hair and beard, and men shall be able to shave regularly\u201d.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff8c00;\"><strong>\u201cThe food has already turned sour by the time we\u00a0get it.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><strong>I can\u2019t bear the smell<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>of this food, let alone eat it\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #a52a2a;\">Inmate from the Pre-Trial Detention Center<\/span><\/h5>\n<p>The conditions found at Pedrinhas do not come close to complying with items 1 and 18 of the \u201cMandela Rules\u201d. Respectively, they specify that \u201call prisoners shall be treated with the respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings\u201d and that \u201cprisoners shall be required to keep their persons clean, and to this end they shall be provided with water and with such toilet articles as are necessary for health and cleanliness\u201d; \u201cIn order that prisoners may maintain a good appearance compatible with their self-respect, facilities shall be provided for the proper care of the hair and beard, and men shall be able to shave regularly\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Brazil\u2019s own National Prison Law states, in article 12, that \u201cmaterial assistance to prisoners shall consist of the provision of food, clothing and sanitary facilities\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf all the prisoners that have come here, there\u2019s not one that hasn\u2019t got sick. There\u2019s no way we can stay here\u201d. This statement from one of the 19 detainees sharing a tiny space in one of the cells of the House of Detention supports the conclusions of the CNJ (National Justice Council). After conducting a prison task force, in which it visited all the units of the Pedrinhas complex in April 2011, the CNJ included among its 41 recommendations the closure of the House of Detention, the Provisional Detention Center and the Prisoner Custody Center.<\/p>\n<p>The lengthy report by the CNJ emphasizes, in text and photos, the appalling conditions of the buildings that form the Pedrinhas prison complex. According to the council, the dirty conditions make the prison unfit for detainees to serve their sentences.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Pedrinhas prison complex (Maranh\u00e3o)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/70350777@N07\/albums\/72157667043461564\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\" data-footer=\"true\" data-header=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/2\/1571\/24751405864_5d9bec8419_z.jpg\" alt=\"Pedrinhas prison complex (Maranh\u00e3o)\" width=\"680\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Two years earlier, the final report of the Lower House Congressional Inquiry into the Prison System had already identified the run-down state and structural inadequacy of the buildings at Pedrinhas. \u201cThe walls are dirty, the hallways are dark and there is trash everywhere,\u201d said the inquiry in its report. \u201cSick prisoners who have HIV and tuberculosis in shared cells reveal the lack of medical assistance,\u201d it concluded. Many of the inmates have health problems. The most common cases are tuberculosis, fevers, throat infections, headaches and respiratory problems. Generally, the sick prisoners, even those with infectious diseases, share cells with healthy inmates.<\/p>\n<p>Cases were also found of detainees with liver stones and metal implants in their bodies that needed changing. According to the accounts of prisoners, requests for medical treatment are frequently met with blasts of pepper spray. \u201cWhen we ask for medicine, we get a \u2018dousing\u2019 in the face,\u201d revealed one prisoner from the Triage unit.<\/p>\n<p>The National Prison Law establishes that the health care of the prisoners must include medical, pharmaceutical and dental treatment. It also states that if the facility does not have the structure necessary, the treatment must be provided at another location.<\/p>\n<h1><strong><span style=\"color: #ff8c00;\">Browse by the report chapters<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/actions\/justice\/news\/42596-ongoing-violation-two-years-since-the-crisis-in-pedrinhas\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 680px; height: 100px;\" src=\"\/arquivos\/editor\/images\/conectas_artes_site_internas_capa_ing.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/actions\/justice\/news\/45705-illegal-prisons\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 680px; height: 100px;\" src=\"\/arquivos\/editor\/images\/conectas_artes_site_internas_cap1_ing%20(1).png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/actions\/justice\/news\/45707-torture-and-mistreatment\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 680px; height: 100px;\" src=\"\/arquivos\/editor\/images\/conectas_artes_site_internas_cap2_ing.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"tts__custom-position_bottom_fixed\" ><\/div>","excerpt":"<p>Based on interviews conducted with dozens of prisoners during the inspections over the past two years, the organizations concluded that the causes of&#8230;<\/p>\n","author":2,"featured_media":31987,"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7],"tags":[349,12465,119],"tema":[12270],"class_list":["post-5547","noticia","type-noticia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-iachr-en","tag-pedrinhas-en","tag-torture","tema-confronting-institutional-violence"],"acf":{"author":false,"subtitle-pt":"Third Chapter | Ongoing violation :: two years since the crisis in 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