SAO PAULO STATE SLOWLY ADDRESSES PRISON CONDITIONS (3 OF 3)

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000087

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/BSC, INL, DRL
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/IP/ITA, DS/T/ATA
NSC FOR TOMASULO
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
USAID FOR LAC/AA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SOCI ASEC BR
SUBJECT: SAO PAULO STATE SLOWLY ADDRESSES PRISON CONDITIONS (3 OF 3)

REF: A) 06 Sao Paulo 751 B)Sao Paulo 49 C) Sao Paulo 56 D) Sao Paulo 66

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY


Summary
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1. (SBU) Sao Paulo State officials candidly admit that a host of
challenges exist within the state penitentiary system but tell us
they are working hard on addressing the prison network's
shortcomings. According to state authorities, the cash-strapped
Secretariat for Prison Administration (SAP) is continuing to clean

SIPDIS
up the poorly planned and overpopulated prison system, some of whose
units are so bad that even SAP Secretary Antonio Ferreira Pinto
called them "concentration camps". State contacts tell us that a
lack of prison space, particularly for the rising number of female
inmates, rampant corruption, and rehabilitation are major issues.
Human rights groups note that while Sao Paulo has the most developed
prison system in Brazil, the state needs to continue jail reform and
develop alternative sentencing plans. These NGO contacts stress
that while the penitentiary structure is broken and an overhaul
desperately needed, the state government is taking some positive
steps towards creating a better managed and organized prison system.
End Summary.

Admitting Problems Exist
--------------


2. (SBU) This is the last in a three-part series exploring the
prison system in Sao Paulo State, how penitentiary conditions fueled
the rise of the First Capital Command (PCC) criminal organization,
and the state's response to these concerns.


3. (SBU) Secretary for Prison Administration Antonio Ferreira Pinto
admitted that Sao Paulo's penitentiaries face a number of
challenges, and signaled that recognizing this fact was an important
first step in addressing the system's shortcomings. Despite the
fact that Sao Paulo has 40 percent of Brazil's jails, the state does
not have a public policy to deal with the prisons' problems
including overcrowding and the locations of the facilities, a
framework for preventive programs to steer would-be criminals into
becoming productive members of society, nor rehabilitation
initiatives to help prisoners emerging from incarceration.
Secretary Pinto told Poloff that he took over a broken and

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"disorganized" penitentiary network when his predecessor was forced
to resign following the May 2006 PCC attacks and prison riots. One
major problem he found is that in an effort to stimulate the local
economies of neglected parts of the state, Sao Paulo constructed
prisons in various far-flung parts of the state. The unintended
consequence of this plan, according to Pinto, is that prisons are
located far from the homes of the families of the incarcerated. In
addition to the poorly located prisons, the state also does not have
enough semi-open regime facilities or rehabilitation centers that
could be useful in curbing recidivism among the inmates. Finally,
Pinto confirmed complaints by human rights activists of primitive
medical attention, even stating that the conditions "make them look
like concentration camps".


4. (SBU) Julia Gorla, Municipal Secretary for International
Relations of Araraquara, a municipality with a population of
approximately 200,000 in Sao Paulo State, told Poloff that the state
penitentiary located in the city remains overcrowded, though not as
dramatically as in 2006 when it attracted headlines and photos in
the media (Ref A). Gorla attributed the prison's overcrowding to
high levels of violent crime and the slowness of the judicial
system, which keeps people in custody for long pre-trial periods.
She noted that while the situation is certainly of concern in
Araraquara, prison conditions and the need for reform are national
issues.



5. (SBU) The State Secretary of the Sao Paulo State Governor's
Civil Household (Chief of Staff equivalent),Aloysio Nunes Ferreira
Filho, told Poloff that the state hopes to build 40 new
penitentiaries before Governor Jose Serra's term ends in December

2010. Nunes noted that Sao Paulo's budget and credit are in good
shape and some of the funds derived from the upcoming privatization
of several state highways and the Sao Paulo Energy Company (CESP)
may be devoted to improving the prisons. The success of
penitentiary expansion will depend on the state's finances, Nunes
stressed, because the federal government has provided very little
public security assistance to Sao Paulo. (Comment: The government's
recently enacted National Program on Public Security with
Citizenship includes funding for prison construction in eleven
cities with the highest crime rates, including Sao Paulo. Whether
that funding materializes or a significant proportion makes its way
to Sao Paulo is yet to be seen. End Comment) Nunes believes that
the number of female inmates is on the rise because they are
increasingly used as "drug mules" in transporting narcotics.
Constructing women's units is the most pressing penitentiary issue
in Sao Paulo, Nunes stated.

Problems Impeding Change
--------------


6. (SBU) While acknowledging the state has been "negligent" in its
responsibilities and expressing the hope to bring about improvement
during his tenure, SAP Secretary Pinto cited several complicating
factors. Corruption is wide-spread, including the existence of many
outside groups who categorize themselves as NGOs that petition to
run small detention units and, after receiving state approval,
siphon off funds into their organizers' private accounts. Unlawful
prison staff behavior is also common, he admitted, and noted further
that some penitentiaries are virtual "homes" for criminals who leave
the facilities during the day and return at night just to sleep.
Responding to the issue of overpopulated prisons, Pinto said some
jails had to be closed because "even by Brazilian standards," their
"sub-human conditions" were unacceptable. The results of these
closures were that those prisoners were transferred to units that
were already over-capacity thus exacerbating the overcrowding
problem. However, there are no easy solutions as building a prison
takes at least a year, he added, and therefore constructing enough
to house the current incarcerated population would take several
decades. In contrast with State Secretary Nunes, Pinto said that
the state is hindered in building new prisons because of budget
constraints. University of Sao Paulo Center for the Study of
Violence (USP-NEV) Researcher Fernando Salla commented that even if
the state were focused on fundamental changes, including new prison
construction, the general public is unlikely to support a serious
overhaul of the prison system. According to Salla, the
non-incarcerated population prefers to have criminals and suspected
lawbreakers "locked up and forgotten about". Without public
backing, the state can only do so much and should not be blamed for
the lack of new prison construction, he inferred.

First Steps
--------------


7. (SBU) The May 2006 PCC riots destroyed 19 state prisons,
Secretary Pinto noted, highlighting that he spent almost a full year

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after becoming head of SAP focused solely on re-building those
facilities. In addition to these units, Governor Serra has promised
to build eight new prisons in 2008, including the first unit
specifically constructed to house women (Note: Pinto told us that
Sao Paulo's ten female prisons were adapted from male units. End
Note.) The state would like to build these eight facilities closer
to populated areas to facilitate family visits. Pinto also plans on
increasing from 30 to 50 the number of alternative sentencing prison
units in the belief that this will be an effective method for
dealing with prison overcrowding as well as recidivism. In


addition, Pinto noted that the SAP has reduced solitary confinement
cells to 54 from 147 and continues to decrease the number because
"keeping prisoners locked up for 22 hours a day is not justified",
Pinto said. He argued that some solitary confinement units must
continue to operate to deal with extremely serious cases, but in
general he is not convinced of the efficacy of solitary confinement
in general and believes that these punitive measures may be
counter-productive.


8. (SBU) Heidi Cerneka, President of the Institute of Land, Work
and Citizenship and Coordinator for the Women's Prisons Program at
the Pastoral Commission for the Incarcerated, (a Catholic Church
organization that attends to prisoners),noted that while she is
very disappointed with the state's lack of efforts to improve the
penitentiary system, Sao Paulo has taken some initial steps.
Cerneka said that Secretary Pinto has transferred or demoted some
prison administrators accused of abuse and has improved the living
conditions of some prisons. For example, Sao Paulo's
"resocialization centers" for prisoners, smaller units where the
incarcerated have more living space and can take some training
classes in preparation for release, are functioning well, when they
are not overcrowded, she added. She stressed, however, that these
actions are the start of a very long and difficult process.


9. (SBU) Secretary Pinto said that Sao Paulo continues to test new
methods for dealing with its poor prison conditions as well as
seeking out new methods to fund prison construction. For example,
the state is asking for financial support from the National Economic
and Social Development Bank (BNDES) to build new units. Regarding
prison conditions, Pinto claims that when allegations of physical
and mental abuse arise or prisoners complain about serious
incidents, he immediately takes action to punish prison wardens,
even if the person accused happens to be a member of the
administrator's staff, rather than the head of the unit itself. In
this way, Pinto told Poloff that he holds prison wardens accountable
not only for their own actions, but for all employees under their
supervision. He has also empowered monitoring councils that were
created to highlight problems within the jails and has regular
contact with them to hear criticism. In addition, the state is
building a facility exclusively for non-Brazilian prisoners so that
consulates can have better and easier access to their incarcerated
constituents. Public defender Carlos Weiss said that although the
state needs to do much to address serious problems in the prison
system, its focus on building more units has helped improve the
situation at least partially. Still, in order to keep up with the
growing prison population, Sao Paulo needs to construct many more
facilities, he emphasized.

Sao Paulo Still More Developed than Other States
-------------- ---


10. (SBU) According to Father Silveira, Sao Paulo State Coordinator
and National Vice President for the Pastoral Commission for the
Incarcerated, Sao Paulo's jails are much more developed than those
in other states. Acknowledging that nepotism and corruption are
rampant problems within jails throughout Brazil, Sao Paulo adheres
to a system of merit-based appointments for senior penitentiary
positions, as opposed to what he finds common in other states where
prison administration officials hand out jobs to family and friends.
Silveira added that SAP training is much more developed than in
other prison secretariats around the country and that in Sao Paulo
State, prison directors must have completed university studies. He
emphasized that SAP is more open to suggestions from his
organization than its counterparts elsewhere and that he finds
Secretary Pinto welcoming to new ideas. (Note: All our contacts

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including Silveira told us, and Secretary Pinto confirmed, that he
no longer speaks with the press because he finds the media
sensationalist and not willing to tell the whole story. End Note.)


Comment
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11. (SBU) State authorities impressed us with their candid
admission of severe shortcomings in the prison system. Along with
Governor Serra's admission that Sao Paulo's penitentiaries are "very
problematic" and could use assistance in their administration, we
see a unique opportunity to help with a very serious human rights
and public security concern (Ref A). As we previously noted (Refs B
and C),the expected signing of the Letter of Agreement on
counternarcotics efforts and law enforcement cooperation will pave
the way for bilateral initiatives in dealing with concerns such as
prison reform. End Comment.


12. (U) Embassy Brasilia coordinated with and cleared this cable.

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