Women arrested on 8/1 live in a precarious situation, says the DF’s Ombudsman

Women who have no proven participation in the vandalism of January 8th and who, in many cases, did not imagine that these manifestations would have a violent content, are imprisoned in wings of the Feminine Penitentiary of the Federal District (DF) – known as Colmeia – with precarious hygiene and food conditions. Among them, there are cancer patients and elderly women over 70 years old. None have a criminal record.

According to the Public Defender’s Office of the Federal District (DPDF), which carried out a prison task force for legal assistance last Friday (24), there are several irregularities in the penitentiary from the point of view of human rights. In one of the wards, which houses 137 women, there are only two toilets and a shower available to all detainees.

Public defender Emmanuela Saboya, chief of staff of the Public Defender General of the DPDF, says that the number of prisoners has increased by at least 80% after the mass arrests resulting from the January 8 acts. The penitentiary, according to her, does not hold the amount of people it received.

“Many didn’t even know Brasília and came here thinking about taking part in a march. These are women who have small children, elderly parents… Many have comorbidities, have serious health problems. I myself interviewed three who have cancer and are undergoing treatment. There is the issue of medications. Many of these prisoners need special medication that is not available in the SUS. Families live far away and cannot send these medications. Many people are even at risk of losing their job because it’s been more than 30, 40 days since they’ve gone to work,” says Emmanuela.

Still according to the public defender, there are problems in feeding the detainees, since, due to the usual delay in holding a tender for the purchase of new products, it is necessary to work only with what has already been tendered. “In some cases, what they manage to eat in one meal is a couple of cookies and two rolls. It has also happened that larvae have been found in the food”, she says.

Emmanuela makes the reservation that her remarks are not a criticism of the work of the penitentiary’s employees, but a warning about the situation of overcrowding. “The people who work in the prisons have tried their best to work well so that everything goes as smoothly as possible”, she guarantees.

Many prisoners report that they are unable to contact their lawyers. Some of them, who were arrested at the Army Headquarters (HQ) on the 9th, say that they were forced to get on buses and that they did not know they were being arrested – they only realized this when they arrived at Colmeia.