Senate approves urgency for project that eliminates “outings” for prisoners

The plenary of the Federal Senate approved, on the afternoon of this Wednesday (7), the urgency to consider the “saidinhas” bill, which extinguishes the temporary releases of prisoners on commemorative dates. Now the text will lock the legislative agenda until it is voted on by senators. However, the expectation is that the project will only be voted on after Carnival.

The proposal, approved by the Public Security Commission this Tuesday (6), went to the plenary without being analyzed by the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ), after the presentation and approval of the urgency request. “This is a victory for Brazil, which is crying out for justice,” said senator Jorge Seif (PL-SC).

Only those in government voted against the urgency of the proposal in the Plenary: Paulo Paim (PT-RS), Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO), Zenaide Maia (PSD-RN) and Randolfe Rodrigues (no party-AP), government leader in Congress . If the text is approved by the senators, it will have to return for analysis by the Chamber of Deputies as it has undergone changes.

“I’m not against the project, I never have been. I presented an amendment on the “little things” criterion, on the reflection of those who have good behavior and who cannot be punished. I recommended voting against the issue of the request, also because I understood that, on the 21st, the CCJ could have the right to vote and then the Plenary”, explained Kajuru.

The urgency surrounding the debate on temporary departures has been pressed by governors and was revived at the beginning of January, when Minas Gerais Military Police sergeant Roger Dias da Cunha, aged 29, was shot in the head and killed during a chase in Belo Horizonte. The gunman is an inmate who had not returned to the penitentiary after his temporary release from Natal – he has a long criminal record with 18 stints with the police. The case generated national commotion.

With each temporary release there is a percentage of prisoners who never return to penitentiaries. Newspaper investigation Folha de S. Paulo, based on information from the state departments responsible for the penitentiary system, revealed that of the 56,924 prisoners who were released at Christmas in 2023, 2,741 did not return, or 4.8% of the total. The numbers refer to 18 states.