International legal standards

RULES OF GENERAL APPLICATION (From UN Minimum Rules)

8. The different categories of prisoners shall be kept in separate institutions or parts of institutions taking account of their sex, age, criminal record, their legal status

(b) Untried prisoners shall be kept separate from convicted prisoners;

(c) Persons imprisoned for debt and other civil prisoners shall be kept separate from persons imprisoned by reason of a criminal offence;

(d) Young prisoners shall be kept separate from adults.

10. All accommodation provided for the use of prisoners and in particular all sleeping accommodation shall meet all requirements of health, due regard being paid to climatic conditions and particularly to cubic content of air, minimum floor space, lighting, heating and ventilation.

20. (1) Every prisoner shall be provided by the administration at the usual hours with food of nutritional value adequate for health and strength, of wholesome quality and well prepared and served.

(2) Drinking water shall be available to every prisoner whenever he needs it.

Exercise and sport

21. (1) Every prisoner who is not employed in outdoor work shall have at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily if the weather permits.

(2) Young prisoners, and others of suitable age and physique, shall receive physical and recreational training during the period of exercise. To this end space, installations and equipment should be provided.

Medical services

22. (1) At every institution there shall be available the services of at least one qualified medical officer who should have some knowledge of psychiatry. The medical services should be organized in close relationship to the general health administration of the community or nation. They shall include a psychiatric service for the diagnosis and, in proper cases, the treatment of states of mental abnormality.

(2) Sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals. Where hospital facilities are provided in an institution, their equipment, furnishings and pharmaceutical supplies shall be proper for the medical care and treatment of sick prisoners, and there shall be a staff of suitable trained officers.

Discipline and punishment

27. Discipline and order shall be maintained with firmness, but with no more restriction than is necessary for safe custody and well-ordered community life.

31. Corporal punishment, punishment by placing in a dark cell, and all cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments shall be completely prohibited as

Brazilian National Legal Standards

The Brazilian constitution contains explicit guarantees for the protection of the inmate population, among them the injunction that "[p]risoners' physical and moral integrity shall be respected."21 Certain state constitutions have similar provisions. The constitution of the state of São Paulo provides, for example, that "state prison legislation will guarantee respect for the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners [and] the [right to] defense in cases of disciplinary infractions."22

The most detailed statement of Brazil's prison rules-or at least of its aspirations for the prison system-can be found in the Law of the Execution of Sentences (Lei de Execucáo Penal, hereinafter the "national prison law"). Adopted in 1984, the national prison law is an extremely modern piece of legislation; it evidences a healthy respect for prisoners' human rights and contains numerous provisions mandating individualized treatment, protecting inmates' substantive and procedural rights, and guaranteeing them medical, legal, educational, social, religious and material assistance. Viewed as a whole, the focus of the law is not punishment but instead the "resocialization of the convicted person."23 Besides its concern for humanizing the prison system, it also invites judges to rely on alternative sanctions to prisons such as fines, community service, and suspended sentences.

An even more obviously aspirational document is the Minimum Rules of the Treatment of Prisoners in Brazil (Regras Minimas para o Tratamento do Preso no Brasil), which dates from 1994.24 Consisting of sixty-five articles, the rules cover such topics as classification, food, medical care, discipline, prisoners' contact with the outside world, education, work, and voting rights. They are largely modeled after the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules and are officially described as an "essential guide for all those who work in prison administration."25