Humiliation in prisons

Organizations ask Senate president to ban abusive searches

Conectas and dozens of other organizations have asked the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, to approve Bill No. 480, penned by Senator Ana Rita, that would ban abusive searches in Brazil.

In a letter to Calheiros, the organizations request that Congress “abolish the requirement for visitors to prison facilities to strip completely naked and have their genitals and other body cavities inspected”, a procedure known as an “oppressive search”.

The organizations also point out that “several Brazilian states – namely Goiás, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina – have already banned these searches through laws, decrees and legal rulings”.

A week ago, Conectas made an oral statement in the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, against abusive searches. The organization staged a side event in the Palace of Nations with the presence, among others, of the UN rapporteur for Torture, Juán Mendez.