Impossible to believe this prisoner was simply "overlooked"

An as yet un-named man somewhere in his 80s, who may be Brazil's oldest prisoner, has suddenly been "discovered" in a psychiatric prison unit in the State of Ceará where he has been incarcerated since the early 1960s.

This frail Gandhi-like soul is confined to a wheelchair and wears diapers due to his incontinence. The most revolting part of this whole scenario is the fact that his sentence was extinguished judicially and he received a Release Order (Alvará de Soltura)in 1989. Yet he has remained imprisoned in the Governor Stenio Gomes Psychiatric Institute in Itaitinga (in the Greater Fortaleza Metropolitan Area) ILLEGALLY during the 24 years that have passed since he should have been released.

He was somehow, as if by magic, discovered during a Conselho Nacional da Justiça taskforce inspection of institutions in the state's prison system that took place on August 7th of this year. However this is not the first such CNJ inspection to have taken place at the psychiatric institution by any means. Similar CNJ taskforce inspections were carried out in 2009 and 2011. In the 2011 inspection some 6,500 inmates (statewide) were examined and about 1,200 of them subsequently released.

It strains all credibility that this man was simply "overlooked" during both of the previous inspections. It seems rather suspicious that the government has not been forthcoming with any information whatsoever about this poor individual; not his name, not his true age, no mention of the "supposed" crime for which he was incarcerated in the first place.

I think that it is much more than mere coincidence that he was convicted and sentenced to some twenty or so years of imprisonment during the whole of the Military Dictatorship in Brazil. It's seems much more than pure chance that his incarceration took place at the very beginning of the dictatorship during the presidency of Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco also from the State of Ceará.

It seems a bit odd that his sentence was extinguished shortly after the end of the Military Dictatorship and despite that fact this man simply was not released, but rather held prisoner illegally for a further 24 years.

It is not the least bit surprising that he was not "discovered" during the CNJ inspection of 2009 when you realize that this took place during an election year, when the entire thrust was to make sure that the outgoing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would pass the reins of government to his chosen successor now President Dilma Rousseff. This kind of information coming to light during the election campaigns would have been devastating for a government that was already scandal ridden.

Nor is it at all surprising that he was also conveniently "overlooked" during the subsequent CNJ inspection of 2011. One must remember that the newly elected, first ever, female President of the Republic was having her own share of problems with continuing scandals. The government was getting off to a shaky start at best and one more major scandal could have potentially brought the government down. Who knows?

The Conselho Nacional da Justiça has nobly affirmed that they will seek to "normalize" his situation. Surely they must be joking!!! What can possibly be done to redress an outrageous injustice of this magnitude? What could ever be done to restore the 24 years of this man's life and liberty that he was robbed of? At his advanced age and given his infirmity how can any semblance of dignity be restored to his life?

Regardless of whatever "crime" that this person, a human being just like the rest of us, was convicted of he completed his sentence in full, and 24 years on top of that. He more than paid any debt he owed to society. Yet it appears that he's the only one to ever receive a life sentence in a country where life sentences don't even exist.

Such a calous disregard for basic human rights should shock every man, woman and child in this nation and the world outside. What good is having a Constitution if it doesn't apply to everyone equally? What good is having a so-called "Democracy" that really isn't? What good is justice in a country that is not JUST?

The State (i.e. nation) at the very minimum now has an obligation to place this man in some dignified care facility, take care of every last one of his necessities, make sure his health is given the utmost priority for the rest of his days. This is the very least they must do in order to let him live out the rest of his life with some kind of dignity.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team