Brazil has the third largest female prison population in the world- Report

A survey carried out by the World Female Imprisonment List, at the end of last year, revealed that Brazil has the third largest female prison population in the world, behind only the United States and China. With around 40,000 women incarcerated, in recent years the country has grown exponentially in these numbers, quadrupling this population in just 20 years. About 45% of these women are in preventive detention, according to a survey carried out by the National Penitentiary Department (Depen).

Ana Elisa Bechara, professor and deputy director of the Faculty of Law (FD) at USP, explains that the increase in incarcerations is global, with an explosion in male prisons also being observed. However, in the case of female incarcerations, there is the presence of a striking phenomenon: the growth of imprisonment for crimes related to drug trafficking. Thus, while the growth of male prisons is directly associated with property, violent and sexual crimes, female prisons are much more linked to the issue of drugs — which does not mean that male prisons are not related to this issue.

“When we talk about drug trafficking, it’s not that women are leaders of this type of crime. Leadership is male, but this leadership usually has a partner who ends up taking care of it when this man is arrested or when he is promoted. So, women assume these functions within a more patriarchal structure and end up being imprisoned more”, analyzes the professor.

Reason for increase in arrests

There are different reasons that explain this increase, and it is essential to understand that the problems associated with the national prison system are multifactorial. The current Drug Law (11,323), instituted in 2006, had a direct contribution to the issue. “In 2006, the new drug law came into effect that basically instituted a war against the people. This war disproportionately affected women, who became frequent targets of arrests. They were put on the front line by drug trafficking, whether as mules, drug addicts or people in vulnerable situations”, observes Luiz Felipe de Oliveira Pinheiro Veras, master and researcher at the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) at USP.

The Invisible Hand of the Criminal Market
The legislation in question illustrates two clear types of penalties related to the drug market: one for those who are consumers and the other for those who traffic. “Using drugs is not a crime in Brazil, but it is a crime to possess drugs for personal consumption. In most countries in the world, trafficking is criminalized, but possession is not for personal use, because when you criminalize this, you want to fight trafficking by catching those who use the drug who, in fact, are the victims of it”, argues Ana Elisa.

Currently, there is no prison sentence for drug carriers for personal consumption, unlike those arrested for drug trafficking and who deal with a harsh penal regime imposed by the State. “The two situations have very different consequences for the law. So if I have this dramatic difference in consequence, I should be very careful. However, the current legislation provides for this differentiation in a subjective way”, adds the specialist. That is, the distinction between the two situations should be made objectively, since, in the way the law is currently presented, margins are opened for a clear process of selectivity.

Thus, it is possible to note that the vast majority of women prisoners have a specific race, socioeconomic status and geographic location. “In criminal matters, the clearer and more closed the law, the safer it will be for all of us. Every time we give a lot of freedom, it is usually used to generate more prison and not more freedom. This happens because we are talking about a State power that is very strong, which is the power to punish. And a power always tends to expand and never to limit itself”, reflects Ana Elisa.

The creation of parameters that clearly determine the differentiation between possession and drug trafficking is, therefore, essential, and the presence of filters that help in the constitutionality of the law is also important. Considering also the permanence of the selectivity present in the national prison system, Luiz Veras assesses that “women often face greater obstacles in accessing education, employment and health, resulting in fewer opportunities and greater willingness to get involved in criminal activities”. Thus, the issue of domestic and gender violence contribute significantly to this worrying scenario.

Structural conditions
The expert also reflects that the rise of Brazil to the rank of third country with the largest prison population in the world has significant implications for both incarcerated women and their families and communities. In this way, the degradation of prison conditions, health and well-being, the impact on families and children and the feminization of poverty can be noted.

“Since women can be the main source of support for their families, when they are arrested, the family can face additional financial difficulties”, comments Veras. The researcher explains that in many cases the woman ends up taking responsibility for the possession of drugs as a way of protecting her partners.

Another aspect that is always present in this debate is the structural conditions of the national prison system, which is historically marked by precarious conditions that do not seem to consider the need to guarantee the maintenance of basic human rights. “There is evident overcrowding, precarious health conditions, lack of rehabilitation and reintegration programs, such as the provision of educational, work and rehabilitation programs, in addition to the lack of attention to the specific needs of women”, illustrates Veras.

In addition, most women do not receive visits after being incarcerated, a striking difference between female and male incarceration. “Women in prison are seen as a monster in society, they are far from the female stereotype”, comments Ana Elisa. In this way, they do not even receive the “jumbos”, items that incarcerated people usually receive from their relatives.

The teacher also points out that the prison system is able to function well, but it does not act correctly because it does not have this desire. “It is considered positive that there is no hot water to take a shower, that the food is not in good condition, that there are rats running through the places, that people do not have health care, as if that were part of the penalty”, she evaluates.

This scenario is also directly related to the formation of criminal factions, since most individuals join these organizations to gain access to items and conditions that should be provided by the State itself. However, when this becomes absent, alternative means — which are often not presented in a constitutional way — begin to emerge.

Future
Thinking about solutions to the problems that involve this debate is not simple, since the issue is recurrent and requires actions from different areas of public administration. Ana Elisa Bechara verifies that there are two important points in the government’s action to advance the issue: the first focuses on the problem of selectivity — an issue identified for a long time within Criminal Law — and, with that, the establishment of stricter laws to the closure of certain conduits is a basic principle that must be established.

The second focuses on working with and raising awareness among actors in the criminal justice system. “This changes a lot with the Quotas Law and with the different face that universities now have […] These students who are having an excellent education are the professionals of law tomorrow, so the chance for me to have black judges and black, who came from the periphery, who were born in a much larger community. This is growing and gives me a lot of optimism”, observes Ana Elisa. With this, the actors start to work in these environments based on and reference to the reality of most of the national population.

Luiz Veras also adds that it is necessary “to consider gender and race issues in criminal justice policies to ensure that affirmative action and specific programs are implemented to meet the needs of black women and ethnic minorities, who are generally overrepresented in the prison population. feminine”. For the researcher, it is extremely important to implement policies that guarantee women’s access to adequate prenatal care and that ensure that mothers remain with their children.

stigmatization
Finally, in addition to the different complexities that surround the theme, the stigmatization of women prisoners deserves to be highlighted in the discussion of this theme. Veras explains that it is possible and necessary to combat this problem, since, in most cases, even after serving their sentences, women continue to fight for their reinsertion in different spaces.

The researcher points out that to fight against this scenario, it is important to promote education and public awareness campaigns to demystify the stereotypes associated with incarcerated people. “Give space for the individual stories and experiences of incarcerated people to be shared, highlighting their humanity and the difficulties they faced throughout their lives. This can help reduce stereotypes and understand the circumstances that led to their involvement in crime.”

For Veras, the constant promotion of public debate on the subject is also important so that the historical invisibility built around the subject can walk in search of an effective improvement, being interesting the inclusion of crime prevention policies and alternatives to incarceration.