General

Shortfall in Brazil’s prison system capacity exceeds 174 thousand

Some 664 thousand people are reported to be serving sentences

Luciano Nascimento

Published on 14/10/2024 - 13:41

São Luís

Penitenciária federal de segurança máxima de Brasília. — © Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil

Brazil has a deficit of 174,436 places in its prison system. The figure can be found in a report from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, which says the country’s prison population currently totals 663,906 inmates, while the capacity of cells stands at 488,951 spaces.

The data cover January through June 2024 and also show that nearly all prisoners are men—634,617. Women add up to 28,770, of whom 212 are pregnant and 117 are breastfeeding. The text also states that 119 children of female detainees are in jail.

In addition, only the families of 19,445 prisoners receive prison aid. The benefit (one minimum wage, BRL 1,412.00), is aimed at the dependents of low-income people who have been imprisoned and who have contributed to the social security system.

The survey also shows that Brazil has 183,806 pre-trial detainees. Of these, 174,521 are men and 9,285 women. Closed regime inmates (full-time incarceration) number 360,430, of whom 346,225 are men and 14,205 women. Semi-open regime prisoners total 112,980, with 4,761 women and 108,219 men, while inmates under an open regime (where they are allowed to have a job and are only required to return to prison at night) number 4,774, of whom 4,372 are men and 402 women.

Work and study

Also reported is that 158,380 prisoners do some kind of work, of whom 28,748 work outside and 129,632 in prison. There are 146,476 men and 11,904 women involved in some type of employment.

Regarding education, the document shows that 118,886 prisoners are in formal education—whether learning to read and write, taking elementary or high school, in higher education, or a vocational course with a workload of over 800 hours. Of these, 108,978 are men and 9,908 are women.

The majority (57,442) are attending elementary school, either in person or through distance learning. A total of 19,908 inmates are learning to read and write. Those attending high school reach 37,485. There are 3,467 prisoners in higher education and 1,563 in vocational courses.