8/1 prisoners victims of torture and neglect

Tumors and inflammations developed after arrests, aggravated comorbidities and deep depression with numerous attempts on one’s own life. This is the general health picture of many of the approximately one thousand prisoners on 8/1. The situation has worried experts and family members, who fear for the lives of these people and claim that situations faced by them in prison and during provisional release constitute psychological torture and negligence. So far, four people have died.

“My husband Antônio Marques da Silva, for example, did not enter any building in Brasília, but he was imprisoned for 19 days and spent months complying with precautionary measures”, reports housewife Simone Leandro da Silva, from Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso . “He couldn’t take so much pressure and injustice anymore.”

The man died on October 29th, the victim of an accident during his informal work to bring food to his family. “He went to change two tiles at a man’s house, but he fell from the roof, hit his head on the floor and died”, laments the woman, informing that Antônio was an earthmoving machine operator, was taking medication for high blood pressure and was not well emotionally. .

“He could no longer travel to other cities to do his work, so the worry increased and life became a nightmare,” he says. “My smiling and playful husband became a sad and silent person, and the fear of returning to prison haunted him.” The man left behind seven children, the youngest being four years old.

Like him, elderly caregiver Giovanni Carlos dos Santos, from São José dos Campos, also died in an accident, months after being imprisoned in the Papuda Penitentiary Complex. “He left there very emotionally shaken, weighing 20 kilos less and suffering from health problems”, informs his partner Maria Vilani Rodrigues.

According to her, Giovanni was sad, coughed a lot and had a lower than normal amount of white blood cells. “So much so that he was scheduled to have a puncture in his spinal cord to check the possibility of anemia or cancer, but there was no time”, she reports, mentioning that the 46-year-old man died in a fall on January 24th of this year.

“Giovanni could no longer find work as a caregiver for the elderly because of the electronic ankle bracelet’s time restrictions, and he started doing odd jobs to survive”, says Maria. “And in one of these ‘jobs’, he went to cut branches from a tree and ended up falling”, she laments. The accident was fatal.

For neuropsychologist Otávio Augusto Cunha Di Lorenzo, the descriptions cited bring evidence of depressive conditions due to the “process of arrest and submission to extreme precautionary measures that these people suffered”. In fact, lawyers interviewed by Gazeta do Povo have already characterized these measures as “torture” because they harm human dignity and cause intense emotional suffering.

This suffering, according to Lorenzo, can harm the psyche and generate symptoms throughout the body, as occurs when an individual feels unwell due to nervousness or feels palpitations related to anxiety. “There are even cases in which a person can even die from the heart without having heart problems”, he warns. The condition occurs due to Takotsubo Syndrome or broken heart syndrome, a stress-induced heart disease.

Furthermore, he explains that in the case of 8/1 prisoners there are aggravating factors such as mandatory silencing, through the prohibition of the use of social networks, and the blocking of bank accounts and salaries, which prevent these families from having minimum resources to survive. . “It is a humiliation from which they have no way to defend themselves because Justice itself is their executioner, and this compound of feelings is deeply sickening.”

75-year-old miner has a blood clot in his head and needs to remove his ankle bracelet for tests

For a 75-year-old retired machinist, for example, the time he spent in the Papupa Penitentiary Complex after sheltering from tear gas bombs during the 8/1 events deeply affected his physical and mental health. Today the resident of Minas Gerais, who preferred to remain anonymous, feels joint pain, is severely depressed, needs eye surgery and recently suffered a fall that caused a blood clot in his head.

“Now, he needs to remove the ankle bracelet for tests, and we are awaiting analysis from Minister Alexandre de Moraes”, informs his daughter, citing that her father was also diagnosed with a bacteria after his arrest, which can develop into stomach cancer. “The doctor already said that every illness gets worse when the emotional situation is bad, so the health situation is only getting worse”, she laments.

Pastor who remains imprisoned in Papuda needs urgent surgery

Another situation awaiting analysis by Moraes is that of pastor Jorge Luiz dos Santos, who remains imprisoned in Papuda due to a judicial error, and is diagnosed with level 4 internal hemorrhoids with intense pain, bleeding and the need for urgent surgery. According to lawyer Carolina Siebra, the defense has been requesting specialized medical care since 2023, but has so far received no response.

In May last year, the judge of the Criminal Executions Court of the Federal District issued a decision in favor of the religious man, requesting measures to “protect the health and physical integrity” of the man due to the illness. “The immediate adoption of the necessary measures is determined,” he said in the document, which requested the detainee be referred to the public health network.

However, the pastor did not receive specialized support, and has avoided seeing the prison’s general practitioner due to embarrassment. “To go to the doctor you have to take off your clothes, usually in the presence of a female police officer, and you have to crouch down, carry out the entire procedure naked. So, he is very embarrassed”, explains the lawyer.

In a note sent to People’s Gazette, the State Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration of the Federal District (Seape-DF) informs that the search is carried out “every time the prisoner has to leave the cell, whether for medical care, with a lawyer, sunbathing or other activities”. According to Seape, this action guarantees security for professionals who work in the penitentiary system and also for those in custody.

The ministry also informs that it does not offer specialized health care within prison units in the Federal District. Therefore, prisoners who need these treatments “are sent, with an escort from the criminal police, to reference hospitals”. Seape did not provide specific information regarding pastor Jorge Luiz dos Santos.

55-year-old teacher needs hemodialysis three times a week after being arrested on 8/1

Another case of worsening health is that of retired teacher Ângela Maria Correia Nunes, 55 years old. Arrested on January 9 for cooking at the camp in front of the Army Headquarters in Brasília, she spent almost 10 days without the medication she used to control lupus, a disease in which the immune system attacks the body’s own healthy tissues.

“Running out of medication caused my kidneys to start failing, so I ended up in the ICU and have been undergoing hemodialysis three times a week for seven months”, laments the teacher, informing that she travels 120 km to perform each session. “I’m surviving, not living”, says the woman from Paraná, waiting for a transplant.

“My feeling today is that I didn’t just lose my kidneys, but my dignity, my right to express myself and to be able to express my opinion”, laments the woman. “Psychologically shaken, I live on medication and homeopathic treatments to sleep because the feeling of injustice will never go away.”

43-year-old man attempted suicide in prison and remains in a psychiatric ward

The shaken emotional health also led several prisoners from 8/1 to attempt their own lives. The usher and painter Claudinei Pego da Silva, for example, attempted suicide inside the Papuda Penitentiary Complex and was rescued by criminal police officers on December 9, 2023. His family calls for the man — father of three children, aged five, 11 and 12 years — receive provisional release to undergo psychological treatment at home.

Claudinei has had a favorable release opinion issued by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) since October 9, but Minister Alexandre de Moraes maintained the arrest after alleging the existence of a video that would show the man damaging public property. The defense reports that he did not have access to the alleged records.

To try to help Claudinei, the Association of Relatives of the Victims of January 8th (Asfav) filed letters with several bodies, showing the seriousness of the man’s health condition. “We reiterate that restriction of freedom cannot be a death sentence”, warned the entity in the document.

Four deaths from 8/1 have already been confirmed, one inside the prison

In the 14 months after the acts of January 8, four people lost their lives after arrests. Antônio Marques da Silva and Giovanni Carlos dos Santos died in accidents, Eder Parecido Jacinto died as a result of health problems, while Cleriston Pereira da Cunha died inside the prison.

The merchant suffered from heart problems, and colleagues told Gazeta do Povo that he fell ill several times in Papuda. He was the victim of a sudden illness while sunbathing on November 20, 2023, almost three months after obtaining a favorable opinion from the PGR for provisional release. The document was not appreciated by minister Alexandre de Moraes.

This delay, according to the family, was decisive in the death of the small businessman. Therefore, the relatives filed a lawsuit with the Federal Supreme Court (STF), on February 2, asking for Moraes’ conviction for malfeasance, ill-treatment, abuse of authority and torture.

“He died! After 311 days as a provisional prisoner who was denied, three times, the re-examination of his preventive status. He died! After a long and unjustifiable 81 days of the opinion given by the PGR in favor of the requested provisional release. He died! Because he was denied the right to have rights”, points out an excerpt from the action written by lawyer Tiago Pavinatto.

In the text, the lawyer also complains about the “inertia” of the PGR, asks for Minister Alexandre de Moraes to be removed from his duties and demands the payment of compensation to Cleriston’s family for moral damage. The process is still ongoing.