Arrest Warrants Surpass Prison Vacancies in 18 of Brazil's States

04/30/2018 - 14h35

The deficit in terms of Brazil's prison vacancies would grow 164% if everyone with a pending arrest warrant was detained, while the number of Brazilians in prison would exceed the one million mark. The national average of 1.7 detainees per vacancy, would go up to 2.9.

The figures were obtained by crossing data from the National Arrest Warrant Database with data from each of the country's state penitentiary systems - with the exception of Paraíba and Rondônia, which did not send their numbers.

The 25 states that did collaborate had a total of 656 thousand detainees in April. The execution of all pending arrest warrants would add another 448 thousand detainees to the system.

	Diomício Gomes/O Popular/Folhapress
	The entrance of the Odenir Guimarães Prision (POG), in Goiania

In 18 of the 25 states, the total number of arrest warrants surpasses availability in penitentiaries. If all pending arrest warrants were carried out, the penitentiaries would not be able to absorb the demand - not even if they were all empty.

The seven remaining states are Acre, Alagoas, Amazonas, the Federal District, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Tocantins. Pernambuco, which has a rate of 2.9 detainees per vacancy - the highest rate in the country - would remain in first, jumping up to 5.7 if the state's pending arrest warrants were carried out.

The lack of vacancies is a symptom of Brazil's overcrowded prisons which, in turn, reflect a country that turns to "mass incarcerations", according to Janaína Homerin, at the Rede Justiça Criminal (Criminal Justice Network).

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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