Brazilian youth detention centres are 'branches of Hell'

September 18, 2003 – A study by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (known as IPEA in Portuguese) shows that 71% of detention centres for youth involved in crime do not meet the minimum hygiene, medical, legal, educational and physical infrastructure standards set by the United Nations. In the first study conducted on the 10,000 youth held in 190 centres throughout the country, IPEA found that many are living in sub-human conditions.

More than 80% of the adolescents lived with their families when they committed the crimes they are detained for. "This destroys the myth that juvenile delinquents are street children" says the report. According to the research, 85.6% of the adolescents were drug users before being detained.

The study includes interviews with youth held in the centres. Many report that they are allowed to bath twice a week and that their bedding is not changed. "The bath, when it is allowed, is with a pail. It’s horrible," said an adolescent form a Rio de Janeiro centre.

In spite of poor living conditions, the reports says that 99% of the centres offer elementary education and 63% secondary education. According to IPEA, 85% of the centres offer professional training. Adolescents detained illegally in prisons and police stations were not included in the study.

"There is a lot going on behind closed doors in prisons and police stations. Some of these detention centres are branches of Hell," said IPEA researcher and Sub-Secretary for the Promotion of Child and Adolescent Rights of the Ministry of Justice, Denise Paiva.

Based on the study, the Sub-Secretary has partnered with the Catholic Church’s Pastoral for Children in 12 state capitals. In Brasilia the government faced a legal action, forcing the detention centres to sign a conduct agreement stipulating that they improve

conditions.

On average, Amapá detains more youth



The report shows that the sparsely populated state of Amapá in the Amazon region detains 8.4 youth for every group of 10,000 inhabitants, giving it the highest detention rate. More than 50% of the crimes committed by detained youth are homicide. Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, has the highest number of detained adolescents (4,429) but is proportionally in fourth place, with 6.3 adolescents detained for every 10,000 inhabitants. In Rio de Janeiro, 2.7 youth are detained per 10,000 inhabitants.

Of the 10,000 adolescents included in the study, 76% were between 16 and 18 years old, 18% between 12 and 15 years old and only 6% between 19 and 20 years old. 94% were males. 89.6% did not finish basic education and 6% were illiterate. Only 7.6% had begun secondary education.

According to the researchers, crime is not necessarily linked to poverty and to misery, but rather to social inequality and a lack of policies to protect children and adolescents.

"The principal objects of youth crime are clothes, labels, tennis, watches and everything that represents status," said IPEA researcher Enid Rocha Andrade Silva.

The report shows that in 2002, 29.6% of the youth were detained for robbery, followed by 18.6% detained for homicide. The remaining 51.2% of youth detained were accused of larceny, drug trafficking and robbery followed by death.

Of the 190 juvenile detention centres in Brazil, 49 are in Sao Paulo. Despite representing 25% of the total number of centres, they face serious overcrowding. Centres in the state of Bahia hold almost twice the number of youth that they are intended to. In Rio de Janeiro state, there are 88% more youth detained than capacity allows for.

Sao Paulo centres in crisis

The long-standing crisis troubling the juvenile detention centres of the Sao Paulo Foundation for the Welfare of Minors (known as FEBEM in Portuguese) reached a crisis point two years ago when the Public Ministry denounced the involvement of FEBEM employees in rebellions and break-outs. In the first eight months of 2003 the 68 centres in the state registered 199 incidents including break-outs, rebellions and riots. The number of youth detained has increased from 5,399 in December of 2002 to the current 6,400. 428 of those youth have escaped, and 240 were recaptured.

The Public Ministry investigated 153 reports of maltreatment in 2003. According to FEBEM, every accusation is investigated internally, with nearly 120 ongoing investigations. Employees complain of a lack of safety, pointing out that a monitor was killed in the Franco da Rocha centre in August. Franco da Rocha is considered to be the worst of the worse. Of the 27 rebellions registered this year, 17 were at the centre. 86% of the adolescents detained are repeat offenders.

On Friday September 12, 11 detainees escaped from the Ribeirão Preto centre. On Saturday, two 18 year olds were killed in unit 31 of Franco da Rocha. On Sunday, the director of the Raposo Tavares centre was held hostage.

The latest rebellion was on September 16, in the Tatuapé unit in the city of São Paulo. Youth attempted to reach a detainee being held in a special cell for youth offenders who are threatened by their fellow detainees. A separate youth was attacked and taken to hospital.

According to FEBEM, 70 of the nearly 100 detainees took part in the rebellion and four employees were taken hostage. Monitor José Carlos Ferreira Barbosa was attacked with an improvised knife, iron bars and pieces of wood. The Military Police riot battalion was called in and used rubber bullets to put down the rebellion. Eight youth suffered minor injuries and Barbosa was hospitalized in serious condition.

Overcrowding

President of the FEBEM Employee’s Union Antônio Gilberto da Silva says that all of the 64 FEBEM centres in the state are overcrowded.

"There must be more investment in the employees, in human resources and in the overall structure in order for rehabilitation to become a reality."

Sources: Jornal O Globo, caderno O País, 17 de setembro de 2003. "Sucursal do Inferno", por Valderez Caetano e "Rebelião deixa 10 feridos em SP", por Luis Kawaguti.

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