State Detention Center of Guarujá

21/12/2007

Yesterday, the Brazilian Justice has ordered the immediate transfer of the prisoners the State Detention Center of Guarujá to other penitentiaries, determinating the immediate penitentiary injunction. The situation of the detention center has already been denounced to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), organ of the Organization of American States, by the Instituto Pro Bono, Conectas Human Rights and Conselho Comunitário Penitenciário de Guarujá e Vicente de Carvalho, denounce which based the penitentiary injunction.

Besides the situation of the penitentiary itself, which doesn´t have conditions to shelter the prisoners anymore because of years of over-population and lack of maintenance, the State Detention Center of Guarujá also irregularly has received adolescents, to whom the IACHR has conceded preliminary measures in October 26th. The recent deaths of three detainees, killed during a conflict with the police in an attempt of escape, helped to highlight the injunction request and the new appeal to the IACHR intervention in the case of the adult detainees.

Since 2005, this penitentiary has already been pointed out for its over-population which has been posing daily problems to the well being of the detainees. The maximum dwelling capacity of the penitentiary is 60 persons, although it has already accommodated 340 people in its peak moments. This situation of over-population has contributed to the degradation of the penitentiary's structures. Today, it is widely accepted that the Penitentiary does not provide the most basic living conditions for its prisoners. Some examples include: lack of security equipments such as fire extinguishers; lack of electricity and lack of security around electricity installations due to the over usage of the prison's electricity system and shortage of sanitary facilities which causes sewers to become exposed attracting rats and various types of insects.

"The penitentiary injunction is necessary to avoid disasters and new deaths. Now we have to wait for the application of this decision by the Executive Branch. The detainees transfer should be made whit precaution otherwise the solution can be transformed in a new problem", said Eloisa Machado, lawyer Conectas Human Rights.