The Role of Restorative Justice in One of Brazil's Worst Prisons

• In Event: Restorative Justice in Prison

Abstract

According to a United Nations Development Program Report released this year, Brazil’s prison population has increased 74 percent over the last ten years with many of the newly incarcerated being women and Brazilians of African descent. Recently, Amnesty International described Brazil’s prisons as “medieval” and “one of the most violent [prison systems] in the world.”[2] Among the most notorious of the prisons is Presidio Central, located in Porto Alegre, one of the most overcrowded prison in the country with 4,470 inmates living in a space built for 2,069 with areas of the prison controlled by gang activity. It is within this context that a restorative justice pilot project was developed where inmates participate in peace circles to deal with conflict and gang activity behind bars. This presentation aims at describing initial findings from this research, which looks into how restorative justice is conceptualized institutionally and what role it may play in affecting extreme violence within and outside the prison. Findings from interviews and observations with prison staff and detainees will be shared and discussed with conference participants and prison officials.

Authors

• Maristela Carrara, CCJC Canada

• Jordan Nowotny, Fairleigh Dickinson University