BRAZILIAN PRISON SYSTEM IS BANKRUPT

Juan Méndez over at the Huff Post writes about the horrendous situation of prisons and Justice system in Brazil, commenting mainly on an important report (pdf) released last week by the International Bar Association.

While many have reported on Brazil's devastating prison conditions, a startling fact is that overcrowding, a main contributor to prison violence, is not being tackled head-on. Brazil's incarceration rate is alarming with as many as 3,000 new prisoners each month.

Even more shocking is that almost 50 percent of those sitting in Brazilian prisons have never been tried and some will wait for years to see a judge.

A report released last week by the International Bar Association highlights the failures of the country's criminal justice system to provide fair and timely trials and access to lawyers for the thousands of people sitting in pre-trial detention who have never been convicted of any crime.

Ring the Alarm: Brazil's Prison System in Serious Trouble