By Santiago Navarro F. and Renata Bessi and Translated by Clayton Conn, Truthout
Between 1992 and 2013, the prison population in Brazil increased by more than 400 percent, compared with a 36 percent population growth over the same period, according to the country's Ministry of Justice There are currently 711,463 prisoners incarcerated in the so-called penitentiary industry that prison rights groups argue is a commodification of human bodies.
"I was visiting a privatized female unit in the state of Espírito Santo, and entered the prison's pharmacy, and the director proudly told me that all the inmates were 100 percent medicated with psychotropic drugs for three months," said Jesus Filho, former member of the National Prison Clergy of Brazil. "That is population control. This was one of the most extreme cases of objectification of prisoners that I have thus far witnessed there."
A majority of the convictions are related to economic and drug trafficking crimes. "The [prison] population is mostly black, poor people who had no chance in life; or education, health, and decent housing - people who end up in criminal activity as a last resort," Fernanda Vieira, a lawyer from the Margarida Alves …
Halfway to Nowhere - Out of prison, not yet home.
By Eric Borsuk
I walk out the front doors of the prison at ten o’clock in the morning. For the first time, I am standing in the “sliver.” My mother and sister rush to me, beaming with tears in their eyes. We hug and kiss while my father snaps pictures on a digital camera. No more clanging steel gates, no more guards shouting orders over loud speakers. An oversize American flag sways above us; rust-colored leaves float down through the crisp fall air. Autumn, from the Etruscan root autu- and the Latin auctumnus, signifying the passing of the season. Six years in a box with only a dictionary for a friend: My mind works differently now.
It’s hard to remember myself before all this, as a 19-year-old college kid who thought it was a good idea to join some buddies in stealing a first edition of Charles Darwin’s "On the Origin of Species" and other rare books and manuscripts from a university library. In prison, you start to forget after a while even why you’re there. Who you were, what you wanted—the steady, quotidian punishment grinds …
CCA Pays $25,000 in Wrongful Death of Overweight Tennessee Prisoner
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $25,000 to settle a lawsuit involving the death of a prisoner at the Silverdale Detention Center in Tennessee.
When received by CCA, prisoner Freddie Lindsey Lightner, Jr. weighed approximately 650 pounds …
$650,000 Settlement in Prisoner’s Preventable Death at CCA Prison
by David Reutter
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $650,000 to settle a matter involving the death of a prisoner at the Metro-Davidson County Detention Center (MDCDC).
In a September 20, 2006 demand letter sent to CCA …
$120,000 Settlement in Suicide of CCA Prisoner
by David M. Reutter
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $120,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging it failed to provide proper psychiatric care for a prisoner at the Whiteville Correctional Facility, resulting in his suicide.
Prisoner Ricky Ware was …
$75,000 Settlement in CCA Prisoner’s Suicide
by David M. Reutter
Corrections Corporation of America paid $75,000 to settle a lawsuit seeking redress for its failure to provide care to prevent a prisoner’s suicide.
Whiteville Correctional Facility prisoner, Lawrence Ware, Jr., was known to suffer from mental …
$60,000 for CCDA Prisoner Denied Cancer Treatment
by David M. Reutter
Corrections Corporation of America paid $60,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that officials at the Whiteville Correctional Facility (WCF) failed to provide scheduled cancer surgeries for prisoner David E. Plunk.
Prior to his transfer to …
$50,000 Settlement in Murder of CCA Prisoner
by David M. Reutter
Corrections Corporation of America paid $50,000 to settle a lawsuit involving the murder of a prisoner at the Hardeman Correctional Facility in Tennessee.
Prisoner Ricky E. Gardner was manually strangled to death on April 19, …
$42,500 Settlement for CCA Prisoner Assaulted with Padlock
by David M. Reutter
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $42,500 to settle a lawsuit alleging CCA was liable for the assault of a prisoner, Scott J. Rattan, with a padlock.
The August 3, 2002 assault was committed …
$30,000 Settlement in Death of CCA Prisoner
by David M. Reutter
Corrections Corporation of America paid $30,000 to settle a civil rights action in the death of a prisoner at the Metro-Davidson County Detention Center.
The suit stemmed from the January 19, 2008 death of prisoner …
