Lula government discards project to build federal prisons

In 2017, former president Michel Temer announced a project to build five new maximum security federal prisons, in response to a rebellion that left 56 people dead at the Anísio Jobim Penitentiary Complex, in Manaus. To date, the project has not gotten off the ground and, depending on the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), it will not progress either.

The construction of new prisons is not part of the PT’s plans, as sources who follow the topic confided to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. One of the reasons would be the low occupancy rate of prisons of this type, which is around 50%, unlike what occurs in most Brazilian prisons, where there is overcrowding.

The project was announced by Temer on January 5, 2017, shortly after the rebellion. At the time, the former president stated that a unit would be built in each region of the country, with approximate costs between R$40 million and R$45 million. The then Minister of Justice, current Minister of the Federal Supreme Court Alexandre de Moraes, was given a period of one year to complete the works.

Still in the first quarter of 2017, the National Penitentiary Department (Depen) organized a workshop to adapt the architectural design of the new federal penitentiaries. According to the new planning, the units in the North, Northeast and Southeast would have an area of ​​250 thousand square meters and would be located approximately 50 kilometers away from an airport.

On the occasion, in a videoconference held between the executive director of Depen, Luizevane Soares da Silva, the director of the Federal Penitentiary System, Cintia Rangel Assumpção, and the engineers from the engineering core and the directors of the federal penitentiaries, specific improvements that needed be carried out in federal prisons.

Before the project fell into oblivion, the states that had initially shown interest in building the prisons backed away from the proposal. Faced with the refusal, the Ministry sought to coordinate the construction of the units in the National Congress, but was unsuccessful.

On Wednesday (14) two inmates escaped from the Mossoró Federal Penitentiary, in Rio Grande do Norte. Rogério da Silva Mendonça and Deibson Cabral Nascimento are linked to Comando Vermelho and were previously detained in Rio Branco, Acre. This was the first escape from a maximum security federal penitentiary since the system was created in 2006.

The Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski, ordered several measures to protect the security of the prison unit and to recapture the fugitives. As of this Saturday morning (17), they had still not been located, although investigators from the task force created announced that expectations were that the capture would be carried out soon.