Brazil to track undertrials with electronic devices
April 27th, 2010 - 2:32 pm ICT by IANSRio de Janeiro, April 27 (IANS/EFE) In an effort to cope with the growing space crunch in the country’s jails, Brazil is considering release of undertrial prisoners and tracking them with electronic bracelets and ankle cuffs.
“Between 75,000 and 80,000 prisoners can serve their sentences while being tracked electronically,” the director of the National Penitentiary Department, Airton Michels, said in a statement published in the daily O Globo.
“Brazil already has very progressive legislation in terms of alternative sentences. The other option now is electronic tracking with the use of bracelets and ankle cuffs,” he said.
The 80,000 inmates, mainly those awaiting trial for various offences, constitute 17 percent of the total number of prisoners in the country.
Michels said keeping non-dangerous criminals out of prison is an alternative method for dealing with the problem of overcrowded jails.
The number of convicts in Brazil is increasing at the rate of 7.3 percent annually, while investment in building jails by state and municipal governments is minimal.
According to figures of the Penitentiary Department, in December Brazil had 473,626 inmates, 44 percent of them awaiting trial, and every year the deficit in the space available in prisons increases by 4,000.
–IANS/EFE
hvb
- Brazil prison population triples in 15 years - Dec 29, 2010
- 4,000 Venezuelan prisoners on hunger strike - Sep 04, 2010
- Venezuelan killed by stray shot from prison - May 10, 2012
- Mexico plans to build eight prisons - Feb 23, 2012
- Venezuela doesn't believe it needs more jails - Sep 28, 2011
- 31 killed in Mexico prison fight - Jan 06, 2012
- Five accused of sex crimes slain in Venezuela prison - Jan 03, 2012
- Electronic bracelets to help Peru reduce jail congestion - Oct 11, 2009
- Brazil approves conjugal visits for gay inmates - Jul 05, 2011
- Toll in El Salvador prison fire rises to 26 - Nov 17, 2010
- Inmate kills girlfriend, stashes body in cell at Peru prison - Nov 30, 2010
- Brazil's oldest prison razed to make way for housing - Mar 15, 2010
- 2,000 El Salvador inmates suffer from food poisoning - Jun 20, 2011
- 5 killed in Brazil prison clash - Jan 17, 2010
- 29 prison personnel held over Mexico massacre - Feb 24, 2012
Tags: airton, ankle cuffs, bracelets, convicts, dangerous criminals, efe, electronic devices, hvb, inmates, michels, municipal governments, o globo, overcrowded jails, penitentiary, prisoners, prisons, progressive legislation, rio de janeiro, sentences, space crunch