prison in prison

Kennedy 2022-03-21 09:03:30

"Blood in Prison" is based on the memoir "Carandilu" by doctor and AIDS expert Drozio Varela. The memoir recounts his work in prison from 1989 to 1992 during the Karandiru massacre, which killed 111 inmates but none of the police. Calandiru is the largest prison in Latin America, with a capacity of more than 4,000 prisoners, but in reality it accommodates more than 7,000 prisoners. Brazil's penal system is huge by any measure. Brazil has a higher incarceration rate than any other Latin American country. According to Human Rights Watch: In the late 1990s, Brazil had more prison staff than most countries had prisoners. In a January 2017 article in The New York Times, Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabó de Carvalho claimed that Brazil's prison population has increased by more than 160 percent since 2000, with an estimated 655,000 people serving sentences in state prisons people, but the prison can accommodate fewer than 400,000 people.

The attitude of the state towards prisoners reflects the social situation at that time to a certain extent. At the beginning of the film, a doctor came here to promote the prevention of AIDS, but he found that in the overcrowded prison with poor living conditions, a group of prisoners can trade, revenge and punish at will. There is no monitor to control the behavior of the prisoners in the prison, which achieves "prisoner autonomy" to some extent. When he asked the prison administrator why, the reply he received was: "They own this prison, this place is not mutinous, because they don't want this to happen." Because the prisoners are smart, they have tenacity The will to live, knowing that a tiny rebellion can lead to a deadly repression. Brazil’s prison system does not invest in edifying criminals, but instead focuses on punishment, so it’s no surprise that the country’s prisons have a violent monopoly with years of instability (Mariana Cunha and Antônio Márcio da Silva, 2018). As depicted in "Street Boys" - the wandering, criminal orphans are put into juvenile detention centers, relying on violence to strengthen control. Brazil does not seem to care about how to stabilize the social order, the government is more concerned about how to expand the scope of power. Many prisoners are thrown into prison without even being convicted. Since there are more real criminals in society, some people are jailed for self-defense. When a doctor asks a criminal: "How did you get in?", his answer is: " None of those here are really guilty, haven't you noticed?" Many incarcerated people are not a threat to society, their human rights are not guaranteed, and the entire prison seems to be a microcosm of Brazil, where it is full of The drug trade, social violence, the spread of AIDS, illiteracy and prison management.

Carandiru's many prisoners have gradually formed a special community, where new prisoners have to pay for beds. Similar to society outside, prisons have self-running "laws". Many of the prisoners died for a variety of reasons, including revenge for unpaid drug debts or sexual abuse offenders (Mariana Cunha and Antônio Márcio da Silva, 2018). The self-management of the prisoners and the confinement cells set up by the prison administrators set up an inner prison for this huge prison in two ways. The whole society is imitating similar laws, thus creating endless prisons like Russian nesting dolls.

At the end of the film, there is a riot in Karandiru, and the subtitles say that only God knows the reason for the riot. Riot control teams broke into the prison and massacred and strafed the prisoners. Finally, the survivors were ordered: "I want to hear from you, long live the Violence Squad... Speak up, you murderers." So far, no administrators have been punished for the 111 dead prisoners. Brazil's military dictatorship officially ended in 1985, but many believe the 1992 Carandirou massacre showed the limits of the democratization process, which one study suggested revealed "the Brazilian justice system's inability to control civil servants." , and hold them accountable for their malfeasance and illegal behavior,” a fact that exposes “a serious flaw in the rule of law and democracy in Brazil.”

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Extended Reading
  • Gia 2022-03-25 09:01:23

    Brazilian prison situation, actually adapted from real events.

  • Jared 2022-03-18 09:01:10

    Prison moral violence is a good portrayal

Carandiru quotes

  • Lady Di: I've come to take the test.

    Médico - Physician: Please, take a seat. First, I'd like to ask you a few questions, Lady Di.

    Lady Di: I've seen this movie before, doctor. I've never needed a blood transfusion and I never pierce my veins. The only drug I use is a joint now and then... when I watch TV or for a little romance.

    Médico - Physician: And partners, how many?

    Lady Di: Oh, about 2000.