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This report is written by Heidi Cerneka, a graduate of Saint
Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN. Heidi is a Maryknoll volunteer who works with
Sister Michael Mary Nolan, csc on the foreign prisoners project sponsored by the
Sisters of the Holy Cross Ministry with the Poor Fund. | |||
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PASTORAL CARCERÁRIA DA ARQUIDIOCESE DE SÃO PAULO WOMEN IN PRISON- THE FORGOTTEN FACTOR
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Female
inmates in Brazil are forgotten by all. In
the state of São Paulo, which houses half of the inmates in the entire
country, women compose about 6% of all prisoners.
Because they are fewer in number and incite fewer rebellions, their cry
for justice, or rather, a more humane situation is heard by practically no
one. Victims of violence as well
as medical and juridical neglect inside the penal institution, their
“time” is made more difficult because they are separated from their
children and often abandoned by their partners or spouses. The penal system in São Paulo
is complicated due to the division between the Secretariat of Public Security
(SSP) and the Secretariat of Penitentiary Administration (SAP).
SAP administrates all of the penitentiaries and the Centers of
Provisory Detention (CDP) in the state of São Paulo.
One of the many tasks of the SSP, on the other hand, is to administrate
the police stations and public jails, which in theory, only detain provisory
prisoners, or those who have not yet been tried and sentenced.
Because these spaces are “temporary,” they easily justify the lack
of any humane conditions. Unfortunately,
the penal system, jointly managed by both SAP and SSP, is extremely
overcrowded. The prison census of
1998 showed a total prison capacity in São Paulo of 42,484 inmates, yet the
system housed over 68,000 at that time. This means that the population was
160% of the actual capacity. Inmates
are often unlikely to be transferred to a facility that is much more
appropriate for their sentences and their needs because the waiting list for
space has 500-800 names. They end up completing their entire sentences in the
jails, which is against the Law of Penal Execution and Brazil’s own
constitution. During the last calendar year, in an effort to control this
overcrowding, the state of São Paulo built 24 new prison facilities.
Not one of them has been planned for women and their needs. PROFILE OF WOMEN PRISONERS IN SÃO PAULOThe
prison census in August of 2001 counted 5157 women in jails and prisons in São
Paulo. This is an increase of
over 26% from the 3812 women that were counted in the census in 1998, and is
approximately 6% of the total prison population. In a study done in the
women’s penitentiary in Tatuapé in 1997, 75% of the women were working
before being imprisoned. The
unemployment rate in São Paulo averaged 20.9% for women during the year 2000,
while it was only 15% for men. According
to the Inter-Syndicate Department of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studies (DIEESE),
44.2% of women are in the informal economy- this most often refers to work as
a housekeeper or to work selling merchandise on sidewalks and in the streets.
Such work is vulnerable to the changing economy; moreover, this labor has
absolutely no employee benefits like social security, disability, maternity
leave, or any other legal recourse. Of the women in prison, 86.5%
have underage children of which 78% are now living with the inmates’
parents. 78% of the women in
prison have extremely low incomes and 50% have never completed primary school.
81% of them are between 21-40 years of age.
And 50% are not in jail for the first time – which also shows the
inefficiency of the system in the reintegration of the woman prisoner into
society. Almost 20% passed through the state facilities for minors, either as
young offenders or children who had nowhere else to live. HEALTHThe
two public jails for women in Pinheiros (known as Dacar 1 and 4) do not even
have minimal hygienic conditions. Until
two years ago, they did not have electricity in the cells, in other words, no
lights and no outlets. The women
are locked in their cells from 5PM until 9AM the next day.
Each jail has a maximum capacity of 512 women, and they currently house
more than 700 women each. The
inmates receive neither mattresses nor blankets.
Their families or visitors, if they have them, have to supply all of
their basic necessities. If her
family cannot afford the bus fare, lives far away, or if she has no visitors,
a woman suffers from the cold and often ends up sick.
In the winter, the temperature can get into the 40’s (7-8°C) at
night. The women do not receive soap, toilet paper or sanitary
napkins. Because the majority is
still young enough to menstruate, this is not only a lack of hygiene, but also
a serious public health problem. When
asked if, at least, the state could not supply toilet paper and sanitary
napkins, officials informed us that even the staff has to bring its own toilet
paper to work. The health of women inmates is ignored. Not only in the public jails, but even in the penitentiary in Tatuapé, medicines as well as dental and medical staff is lacking. A Pap smear is a virtually unheard of event. As far as women who are pregnant, HIV+, or are infected with tuberculosis are concerned, medical accompaniment is practically nonexistent. The two public jails and the women’s penitentiary have infirmaries equipped for basic medical service, but they have no physicians to staff them. For any medical need, officials have to take the prisoners either to the emergency room, the nearest public health clinic, or to a penitentiary that has ambulatory services. This complicates the situation for many reasons. To take an inmate anywhere, first, the staff must be willing. In addition, there must be enough staff “leftover” that can leave to accompany and guard the inmate, as well as a functioning vehicle – not always the case. In one of the two public jails, the head jailer said that each shift carries between 12 and 20 women out for medical care. The SSP does not have enough people to do this regularly, and therefore, the women end up without medical services. A regular shift at the public jail has between 6 and 7 guards for 700 women. When any health emergency
happens, the women have to shout and beat on the bars to get someone’s
attention. At times, they call
for hours and end up being punished for having made so much noise, or for
having argued with the staff. In
December of 2000, 14 women were in a punishment cell together for a month. They called for help and when a staff person finally came,
the women were furious, took his keys, and locked him in their cell.
It was not an attempt to escape – there were still 4 locked doors
between them and the street, and his key ring did not have keys to all of
them. Because of this, they were all put together in a punishment cell, with
little space and no chance to go outside to get any sun or stretch their legs
for a whole month. Two of the
women were pregnant, one had tuberculosis and one other had an infection on
her face that affected her eye. The day that we visited them, at the height of summer, they
had only taken one bath in the last ten days.
All of this happened because of a cry for help. The Federal Constitution of
Brazil guarantees the inmate’s right to breastfeed a newborn child for 4 to
6 months. In the three years that
the Prison Pastoral has been present in Dacar, few of the more than 100
pregnant inmates have been able to breastfeed.
A lack of a bed and crib in the wing of the prison set up for pregnant
women and a lack of staff are the most often cited reasons for denying women
the right to breastfeed. Because
of this failure of the system, both the mother and her child are negatively
affected. For more than a year, the maternity wing of the prison hospital was
ready to open – with beds, medical materials and cribs.
It stayed closed because of a lack of staff and, because of this lack
of staff and guards, scores of women gave birth and were forced to return to
their cells within 24 hours, still bleeding and with breasts heavy with milk.
If they have family, someone has to pick up the child and raise it in
the mother’s place. If they do
not have family, the child must go to an institution, at times to be lost in
the system because he/she does not have a birth certificate, and at times, to
disappear into the adoption world, generally against the will and without the
authorization of the mother. One woman who had a high-risk
pregnancy begged to see the doctor, warned them that she had her last child at 8 months, and still, when she began labor,
no one attended her. The baby died for lack of prenatal care and medical care
at the moment of delivery. Another
woman gave birth in the police car going to the hospital because the police
escort was so delayed. One
Bolivian gave birth and, after much effort on the part of the Prison Pastoral,
managed to get in contact with her family.
The inmate returned to the jail one day later while her son, 72-hours
old, traveled by bus with an aunt from São Paulo to Bolivia.
Two inmates saw the doctor and
were told that they were not close to delivery yet so they could not be
transferred to the prison hospital, even though the agreement is to transfer
them when they are in their eighth month of pregnancy, so they can have some
prenatal care. In the police car,
returning to the jail after the supposed medical exam, one of them went into
labor and went directly to the hospital.
She gave birth that same night. The
other woman gave birth later in an identical situation.
For three years, we in the Prison Pastoral have been fighting for the
right of imprisoned mothers to breastfeed, and not just because a mother
should be able to bond with her child. Many
studies show that a child that is breastfed and has bonded with her/his mother
develops more quickly, walks sooner and talks sooner.
For three years, we have heard promises from the penitentiary health
administration that the women will be able to breastfeed.
We believe that there are people within the system that are also
fighting for this right, however, many women are still separated from their
children immediately after delivery. How
many more women and children are still going to suffer this violence?
The question is complicated – there is no prenatal accompaniment that
could detect a high-risk pregnancy, or whether the mother is HIV+, or has
AIDS, or any other illness that could negatively affect the development of the
fetus. One woman pregnant with
twins at the penitentiary asked for medical assistance on a Sunday, because
she was feeling pain. On Wednesday, the doctor looked at her, diagnosed a urinary
tract infection and medicated her. On
Thursday, she was finally taken to the emergency room, already in labor and
delivered one baby already dead and another that died within 12 hours.
This is not only a lack of medical assistance, but also a crime of
medical negligence, for which the state also is guilty for not providing
adequate prenatal care. THE JUDICIARY SITUATIONThe number of
women entering the prison system grows daily, increasing the proportion of
women to men overall. No
structure or plan exists to accompany this growth.
The majority of the women are imprisoned in the two public jails in
Pinheiros. These jails were not
built for women, and offer no means to meet any basic needs of theirs.
In Brazil, for every three days worked, an inmate earns one day of
remission, meaning one day off his/her sentence.
Without work, there is no remission.
The SSP has many more sentenced women than provisory women, and a
sentenced prisoner has the right to work and earn remission, or time off the
sentence. The majority ends up completing their entire sentence in the public
jail, with no chance to work, earn remission, or take literacy courses.
The women sentenced to “semi-open” prison (they can leave during
the day to work, but must return by 7 PM), or have earned the right to
progression of their sentence (from closed jail to semi-open), or have earned
the right to parole (which means she could be home caring for her children),
stay in jail due to the extreme slowness of the judiciary system.
One woman was absolved of her crime due to psychological problems,
however, the judge sentence her to “security measures”; in other words,
she cannot be freed because she needs psychiatric treatment, and should be
imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital. However,
many hundreds of people are on the waiting list for the psychiatric hospital
in the penal system. This woman
actually got a place in the hospital but was returned to the jail because the
psychiatrist said that she did not need psychiatric care.
She is currently in the jail without a sentence.
She has no date for completion of her sentence because she has no
sentence to complete. TORTURETorture
still exists in the jails in São Paulo.
Few in prison have the courage to “denounce” (publicly expose or
report as a criminal offence) torture, because they know they will pay a high
price for opening their mouths. Psychological torture also exists, such as
when jailers or military police enter the cells at night, shooting over the
women’s heads, shouting and threatening them.
Some torture has been denounced. In
one jail, the women complained that when they ask to see the doctor, they are
taken from their cells to the infirmary. Waiting in line for the doctor, the head guard beats them
with the objective of trying to get them to stop asking to see the doctor.
Two women signed denouncements in December of 2000, and gave testimony
before a judge of all that they had suffered.
Six months later, they are still in the same jail, suffering death
threats and threats of more torture. How
can we in the Prison Pastoral motivate
people to denounce torture when they do not see any positive results for their
risk and, even more, are continually threatened and lose their chances at
parole because the jail gives them a negative behavioral review?
On December 27, 2000, the “Shock Troop” of the military police
invaded the women’s penitentiary of Tatuapé and brutally attacked and
tortured the women. A rebellion
broke out on December 26, and while initially the presence of the Shock Troop
was requested to reestablish order, the police were able to completely control
the rebellion, making the entrance of the Shock Troop unnecessary.
Despite that, they chose to invade the penitentiary and beat and
torture the prisoners, ignoring and infringing on the very law that they, the
police, are sworn to uphold. They
forced the women to sit for more than seven hours in the brutal summer sun
and, finally, forced them to walk barefoot across broken glass, passing
through a gauntlet of police officers who beat any prisoner that hesitated or
tried to avoid the glass and the blood that had already begun to pool.
Beyond this gratuitous violence, all of the prisoners were exposed to
the risk of contracting AIDS, because 11% of the female prison population is
HIV+ or has AIDS. While all of
this was occurring, the police passed through the cells, breaking televisions
and radios and allowing the police dogs to urinate on clothing and other
belongings.
In the women’s penitentiary of Butantã (also in São Paulo), the
visit of a human rights group was greeted with a general euphoria, as the
women began to tell stories of sexual violence by prison staff and brutal
beatings. One said, “Finally,
someone remembered us!” Every
one of them had a serious denouncement to make.
One young woman was impregnated when she was raped by one of the prison
staff. A congressman, Marcos
Rolim, who accompanied the visit, made it a point to inspect the garbage, and
found innumerous letters and judicial requests that the women thought had left
with the mail. VISITATION RIGHTS AND CONJUGAL VISITSThe public jails are on the extreme peripheries of the city. A visit for many families involves a trip that takes hours and relies on many different means of transportation. At times, they may pay for up to 6 buses and subways to get from their home to the jail and back. Beyond this, the situation of visits for women prisoners is different than for men. Husbands and boyfriends are far less likely to visit their partners than women are to visit their husbands and boyfriends in prison. The mothers of the women in prison, many times, are busy taking care of their daughters’ children while they are in jail. Therefore, the mothers of the female inmates have less time and less money leftover to make this trip. Certainly, the lines at the doors of the women’s jail on visiting day are always much shorter than the lines to visit the men’s jail. The policy
of the National Council of Criminal and Penitentiary, through its Resolution
Number 1, on March 30, 1999, recommended to the state penitentiary
departments, that they guarantee to all prisoners (men and women) the right to
conjugal visits at least once a month.
Nowhere in the state of São Paulo do women have this right, be that
for fear of pregnancies, lack of adequate space to guarantee privacy, or lack
of organization on the part of the prison.
The director of the Women’s Penitentiary of the State of São Paulo (Carandiru
Complex) argues against conjugal visits because she worries that they could
become scenes of “masculine prostitution,” where other women who do not
have visitors would solicit the men. At
any rate, conjugal visits do not exist in the women’s prisons. It is blatant discrimination: what is allowed the men is
denied the women. DRUG TRAFFICKING AND FOREIGN PRISONERS While the most commonly committed crime among men is armed robbery, among women, it is drug trafficking. Only 10% of men’s convictions are for drug trafficking, contrasted with 47.6% of the women’s. It is clear that many women use and sell drugs to support their own addictions. However, in the majority of the cases, the women are not the big dealers, but are arrested with a few grams of drugs or a few “rocks” of crack cocaine. One woman was convicted and sentenced to three years of prison for “trafficking” 21 grams of marijuana! While they are aware of what they are doing, many women sell or pass drugs either because they are desperate to take care of their children and so cannot refuse an offer of good money just to “carry drugs,” or because their boyfriends convince them to traffic for them. The growth in the number of foreign women in the São Paulo prisons is alarming, and almost all of them are arrested for drug trafficking. Even more alarming is the number of women condemned for international trafficking. Their stories are almost identical. The dealers search out women who are in difficult or desperate situations and in need of money. Then the dealers offer an exorbitant amount of money for the women to just make a “tiny” trip. One woman was promised US$10,000 to take a trip to Europe. A variation on this is the dealer who enters into a relationship with a younger woman, and convinces her to traffic based on the false love that he declares for her. Meanwhile, she is the victim of a diabolical trap. She receives the drugs and later is denounced to the police as a drug trafficker. She gets in line to check in at the airport or, at the moment that she passes through immigration, and someone approaches her and calls her by name. “Are you Rachel? Are you carrying drugs? We have to look in your bags.” While she is being arrested for 3 kilos of cocaine, the true dealer sneaks through with a much larger quantity. Generally, the situation is completely set up for her to be arrested. The police also are part of this scheme, and often take half of the drugs. She goes to jail. The police get their kickback and the real dealer boards the plane. So many women tell stories of how, when they were arrested, they had 5 kilos of cocaine yet, in her first court hearing, the quantity has already been cut in half. In other words, she is accused of trafficking only 2.5 kilos. The other half is long gone. We feel
strongly that it is the role of the Prison Pastoral to denounce this practice
to the press and other public media. It
is clear that these women know they are committing a crime, because they are
trying to carry drugs out of the country.
However, she is the “mule,” betrayed
by all. It is our obligation to
go after the true dealers. CONCLUSIONSIt
is not possible to address the entire situation of women inmates in one
report. This report was made
based on in-depth visits to three penal establishments in the state of São
Paulo. There are six in total.
It is important to state that we know guards and staff that are trying
to do their best in an impossible situation.
Unfortunately, we also know many guards who are cruel and believe that
they are exempt from denouncement and so torture and abuse the women
physically, psychologically, and even sexually with impunity.
We also know of at least one case of torture that was denounced, and
the guard is being charged in a criminal court, instead of just a hearing
within the police system.
The majority of the women prisoners are mothers.
It is too bad that there are no recovery
programs, educational/literacy programs, or parenting courses in the public
jails. The woman prisoner always
loses out. She often loses
contact with her family, or at least damages the relationship with her family.
For their part, the families of these women lose confidence in them. And
because they have a criminal record, the women lose practically any chance of
having a job afterwards. It is
lamentable also, that alternative sentencing does not exist; those who commit
nonviolent crimes should have a chance to be sentenced to home prison,
semi-open prison, or probation. After
three years in prison, the damage to their health and to their families is
often irreversible.
Obviously, the most important step to change is prevention and
education, long before someone arrives at the door of a prison.
We need to acknowledge that women are in the penal system and their
numbers are growing. To ignore these facts means we are going to continue to
leave them in inadequate and temporary spaces, ignoring their medical and
judicial needs, and abandon them to those who abuse power and use physical and
psychological torture on them. Until we really enter into appropriate
“re-education” and re-socialization of prisoners instead of punishment,
prevention programs to avoid prison in the first place, and build more
adequate public policies, not only will the female inmates and their children
suffer the price of this injustice, but all of society will too. Heidi
Cerneka Heidi
Cerneka is a member of the coordination of the Prison Pastoral of São Paulo,
working specifically in relation to women prisoners, and also participates in
a project sponsored by the Institute of Land, Work and Citizenship which works
to guarantee the rights of foreign prisoners in the jails and prisons in São
Paulo. She
can be reached at heidic@alternex.com.br Pastoral Carcerária da Arquidiocese de São Paulo
(Prison Pastoral of São Paulo) telephone/fax 55-11-3237-3002 |
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