Brazilian inmates prefer Paraguayan prisons to federal prisons in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Paraguay’s Minister of Justice Cecilia Pérez affirmed that most persons deprived of liberty of Brazilian nationality in Paraguayan territory and who have extradition cases reject their extradition due to the strict and incommunicado regime with which Brazilian federal prisons are managed.

In this regard, she stated that very few accept extradition if they have extradition cases. “The inmates who are considered highly dangerous and if they have massive cases would be taken to federal prisons”, she said.

The Minister explained that these inmates try to prevent their extradition because they will be incommunicado at the Brazilian federal prisons.

She advanced that this is the objective of the Paraguayan Ministry of Justice with the construction of the maximum-security pavilion in each prison that is in its completion stages. “And those who enter Paraguayan prisons will have [the Brazilian] regime,” she detailed.

Another objective of the Paraguayan Ministry is to inaugurate one of the prisons this year. As confirmed by Pérez, the closest one to finishing is located in the city of Emboscada. The construction of eight blocks, seven for common cells and one for maximum security, is 90% concluded.

The prison in Minga Guazú is almost finished, but there is a problem with the water potability. According to the Minister, this is a particular issue to the region itself; it has contaminated water.

For this reason, the priority is in Emboscada. “We want to have it ready by July. We are only waiting for the building to be finished before starting the equipment stage,” the Minister emphasized.

Itaipu Technological Park (PTI) will be in charge of the equipment stage. It is the entity that developed the technical project.

With the three new correctional facilities opening, the other ones will be decompressed, and the foundations will be laid for the reform process. “The problem will not be solved, but the separation of the accused from the convicted will be achieved,” she said.

Since September 2019, Law 6.365/19 has been in force, which declares an emergency state in all Paraguayan penitentiaries due to the cases of escapes, riots, and disputes between rival criminal groups inside the prisons.

The law allowed financing for the construction of new jails and the use of public forces on the perimeters of the prisons, if necessary.

In this regard, the Vice-Minister of Criminal Policy of the Ministry of Justice, Rubén Maciel Guerreño, pointed out to local media that “the new penitentiaries are made of reinforced concrete in which, for example, the light bulbs and other devices are embedded, and the inmates can’t manipulate them in any way”, he assured.

One factor that affects internal security is that the cameras suddenly stop working or are moved from their usual position. “This is a daily situation, and in the interim, when the service is reestablished, or the camera is repositioned correctly, what should not have happened has already happened,” the Vice-Minister explained.

On the other hand, in the new prisons, every detail has been thought out to avoid any inconvenience.

According to Guerreño, it will be impossible to build tunnels because they have a foundation of more than one and a half meters of reinforced concrete.

The big problem with the old facilities is that they were not conceived as the ones currently in their finishing stage, with the anti-bandit purpose, or with security levels that avoid human intervention.

BRAZILIAN PRISONS INTIMIDATE INMATES

Journalistic consultant Dr. Carlos Alberto Di Franco stated that the criminals’ fear towards Brazilian maximum-security prisons is that they intimidate them. It keeps them totally isolated.

Cellular phones are completely blocked, and the regime is rigorous.

They do not manage to communicate with their friends and relatives as it happens in other places, and they cannot continue commanding the illicit activities of their organizations.