JUDGE SIDINEI BRZUSKA, PRISON INSPECTOR (Translation): Most Brazilian prisons are so bad that the prisoners lose their sense of dignity in terms of how they are treated. There is no money spent in this area, so lots of prisoners are crammed into terrible conditions. The level of disease in our prisons, diseases that should have been eradicated – like tuberculosis – for example, is very high and resembles medieval times.



We have prisoners dying every day in our prisons - the majority don’t receive medical assistance – they end up going to the hospital in a terrible state and many do not survive. Some die in prison without any assistance. There is a popular expression we have in Brazil which says ‘If a prisoner has committed a heinous crime – that person should rot in hell.’ That is a popular expression and here we have people, who are literally rotting in hell.



The prison wall has two functions, the first is to stop the prisoners escaping and the second is to stop people seeing what happens inside. So, because society distances itself from this more and more and because they want prisoners to suffer and be punished and go through hard times, our system is the way it is today. That is how it is in Brazil.



Funding regarding all aspects of the prisons is basically zero – very little. This is the result of a historical issue – it has never been a priority for the political factions – improving the prisons has never been on their agenda because it does not win votes. So the prison system is like a snowball, people start committing more barbaric crimes and many of them are controlled from inside the prisons. The internal gangs exploit other inmates and they demand money – they make profits because they charge the prisoners – they charge them to sleep, to shower, for medication, for food, right? We have prisoners who sleep sitting up – there is not enough space. If there is not enough space to lie down obviously there is no space to work. The situation is chaotic.



GILMAR BORTOLOTTO, PRISON INSPECTOR (Translation): This state of affairs - let me put it this way, is a laboratory generating all these criminal problems. These are weapons seized inside the prison, these guns are used to conquer territory, they are not used against the guards – not against the guards usually – just against each other, to dominate. Death is the fate of the majority.



Things are smuggled in many ways – they come in with visitors and staff – even like this, inside peoples bodies.



REPORTER (Translation): Is that an X-ray?



GILMAR BORTOLOTTO (Translation): Yes, on this X-ray we detected a mobile phone, here are some more and they smuggle drugs the same way as mobile phones – like in this photo they are hidden in rubber, high fusion tape and carbon paper to conceal them from the metal detector.



Each cell is designed for eight inmates but contains 40 - they are even living in bathrooms. See, there are mattresses where the toilets should be. Terrible conditions. This is the corridor of the prison, the prisoners are sleeping in the corridor, some even sleep on top of the toilet walls. Those are men who died from lack of medical assistance – they basically …rot away.



REPORTER (Translation): How could that happen?



GILMAR BORTOLOTTO (Translation): the guy’s a paraplegic, he cannot move by himself, he depends on others – he does not get medical attention. His sores rot, get infected and he dies. Another scene… this is a mentally ill prisoner handcuffed to the wall who has defecated by his bed. This is another mentally ill prisoner – we see prisoners in this condition all the time.



REPORTER (Translation): Are all the inmates in this condition mentally ill?



GILMAR BORTOLOTTO (Translation): No, some are mentally ill and some are common prisoners.



REPORTER (Translation): So the medical assistance….



JUDGE SIDINEI BRZUSKA (Translation): Is almost non-existent. This prisoner has cancer.

If we stop our inspections in one month it will get much worse, it is medieval here. Due to the overcrowding the state can’t control what is happening behind bars and these are places that generate more crime. They are places that work as catalysts for crime.



PRISONERS (Translation): It’s over, we want to leave, we want to go, we want to leave.



JUDGE SIDINEI BRZUSKA (Translation): The population has an unfortunate attitude, the sentences given to criminals are never enough - they have to go to a place where they will suffer. Let’s put it this way…. It is the wish of the people. That is wrong – it is a questionable attitude and these are the consequences.



PRISONERS (Translation): The water is yellow. We are missing mattresses here. Give us a hand. The water is making us sick. The situation is critical!



JUDGE SIDINEI BRZUSKA (Translation): Today the lives of those serving a sentence depend on the parallel state. If I am inside one of those sections where they walk freely… who will protect my life? They will. If they want me to die, I’ll die. So my life inside depends on my silence and submission. This state of affairs can only be changed with funding from the government – we need to build new prisons with the right facilities to separate first timers from the repeat offenders, the most dangerous ones from the minor ones, because this is a system that enslaves many people.



MAN (Translation): Here are the toilets, they are small. You can see, two toilets for 70 people and one shower here. If you take a quick look in here, two toilets and one shower only. This is where we clean our dishes



REPORTER (Translation): Can you put the kettle on?



MAN (Translation): You want me to turn it on?



REPORTER (Translation): That is dangerous, you could get a shock.



MAN (Translation): The wires are all like this. They go straight into the power socket. It takes around an hour and a half to boil.



REPORTER (Translation): Show me the mattresses.



MAN (Translation): Here they are, for those who sleep on the floor, there are more under the beds too. More mattresses under the beds. The toilets are broken. Some men were released to make room and now they are back – it is going to be even more crowded – some people were released but new ones came in and now the guys that were released are coming back too. And how about the new guys that came in? It did not help – they brought everyone back!

JUDGE SIDINEI BRZUSKA (Translation): We use a phrase from Nelson Mandela ‘ the level of a nations development is defined not by how it treats its illustrious but by how it treats its marginalised, it’s prisoners.’ Nelson Mandela says you don’t know a country until you know that country’s prisons.

Reporter/Camera
GIOVANA VITOLA

Producer
VICTORIA STROBL

Editor
NICK O'BRIEN