Decapitated inmates & jailhouse warlords – inside Brazil’s hellish prisons where ex-Man City star Robinho faces 9 years
FROM inmates being decapitated to savage drug warlords calling the shots, Brazil’s prisons have been dubbed ‘hell on earth’ – and for good reason.
The country’s prisons have notoriously horrid living conditions with overcrowding, violence, harsh punishments and gang wars being only some of the many problems the underfunded facilities face.
Former Man City star Robinho is expected to spend the next nine years serving his sentence in one of the country’s nightmare institutions.
The ex-Premier League footballer will now serve his sentence in Brazil at the request of Italian authorities after being convicted in 2017.
Robinho was one of a group of six men convicted of sexually assaulting an Albanian woman in a club in 2013.
The former Santos star says he is innocent.
As Brazil‘s prison population rose a staggering 372.5% from 2000 to 2022, the country is housing much more inmates than it can handle.
The inhumane state of these hellholes is partly due to overcrowding with prisoners covering every inch of available space and many of them being forced to sleep on the floor or tied in makeshift hammocks.
For example, the Carandiru jail in São Paulo, Latin America’s largest prison, holds a staggering 6,508 inmates.
A number of prisoners are squeezed into small cells designed for a single occupant – many of whom are forced to sleep next to hole-in-the-floor toilets.
Excessive overcrowding leads to filth, poor sanitation and ventilation while diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis spread as an epidemic.
But the nightmare doesn’t end there as violent drug gangs end up pulling the strings in many cases – the so-called “keyholders.”
Harrowing photos show dozens of inmates crammed in one cell, lying head-to-toe across the floor.
A Human Rights Watch report on the country’s prisons found the underfunded institutions in a state of decay with crumbling concrete, and broken plumbing and electrical systems.
On some occasions, inmates resorted to using plastic sheets to prevent water leaks from the ceiling.
Brazil director at Human Rights Watch Maria Laura Canineu said: “Overcrowding is a major problem in Brazil´s prisons and nowhere else it is more severe than in Pernambuco.
“The state has packed tens of thousands of people into cellblocks designed for a third as many people, and turned over the keys to inmates who use violence and intimidation to run the prison grounds as personal fiefdoms.”
According to the report, the worst living conditions in all prisons were the disciplinary and holding cells – which are meant to hold prisoners who need protection from other inmates.
They are called the “yellow ones” – the ones whose skin turns yellow due to the lack of sun exposure.
An inmate in the “yellow section” reported sleeping with ten people on the floor and said there were days when there was no water for the whole day.
He said: ” When we complain about almost anything, we get beaten. Five months ago we complained about the lack of water. It was in May.
“Five guards came in and took us downstairs. They stripped off our clothes and beat us with an iron pipe.”
The understaffed facilities are often being run by drug-selling keyholders who extort payments from inmates and send their “militias” to threaten and attack those who cannot pay their debts.
And to add to the pile of atrocious circumstances, sexual violence is a common occurrence – with victims reporting being gang-raped to authorities but no action taken.
Inmates rely heavily on family members for some cash to secure protection from gangs or some sleeping space.
Brazil was plagued by a string of violence back in 2017 that saw 99 people being killed – with some being beheaded and had their intestines ripped out.
Robinho's Rape Case: a Timeline
The rape case involving Brazilian footballer Robinho spans several years. Here's a brief timeline:
- January 22, 2013: Robinho was one of a group of six men convicted of sexually assaulting an Albanian woman in a club during his stint for AC Milan.
- 2014: Brazilian media reported on the allegations against Robinho, but no formal charges were filed at that time.
- 2017: Robinho was found guilty of sexual assault by an Italian court and sentenced to nine years in prison. However, he denied the charges and appealed the verdict.
- 2020: After the appeal process, Robinho’s sentence was upheld by the Italian court. But due to the statute of limitations in Italy, he was not extradited to serve his sentence.
- 2022: Robinho’s prison sentence is ratified.
- March 2023: Robinho surrendered his passport to authorities
- November 2023: Italian prosecutors said they felt Robinho should serve his time in Brazil.
- March 20, 2024: Brazil’s Superior Court formed a simple majority and voted for Robinho to serve the sentence in his home country.
A gang war was sparked when 56 inmates were killed in the northern state of Amazonas following a clash between the Family of the North gang and PCC over drug trafficking routes.
A few days later in the neighbouring state of Roraima, 33 prisoners were killed, many with their hearts and intestines ripped out.
And another 10 inmates were killed in smaller prison clashes in Amazonas and the northeastern state of Paraiba.
A full-scale gang war between rival gangs at the Altamira Regional Recovery Center in the state of Para in 2019 ended up in a horror massacre.
At least 57 people were killed and 16 of those were decapitated with some of the heads being used as balls in a savage game of football while others were burnt alive.