Booklet guides migrants and refugees on custody hearings

Difficulties in communication, cultural differences, and lack of knowledge of Brazilian law are some of the factors that have an impact on guaranteeing the rights of foreign prisoners in custody hearings in Brazil. With this challenge in mind, the Pro Bono Institute has prepared a booklet to guide people who have been arrested in flagrante delicto in Brazil. The presence of an interpreter and a notification to the consulate, in the case of immigrants, are among the rights that need to be guaranteed.

“It is very difficult, for obvious reasons, for a detainee to leave a custody hearing – being released from prison – without understanding the language,” says Ana Luiza Martins, one of the coordinators of the booklet and a partner in the law firm Tauil & Chequer Advogados, which supported the initiative. She points out that this impossibility of communication implies a violation of the broad defense, “a violation of the constitutional right to defense.”

Other aspects that motivated the production of the booklet were the “perception of the increase of foreigners in Brazilian prisons and, above all, the invisibility of these prisoners,” Ana Luiza says.

She explained that many times these people are in the country in a vulnerable situation and without family, which aggravates the circumstances. Based on data from the Ministry of Justice, there are more than 1 million migrants and refugees in Brazil, the booklet reads.

As a consequence of many conflicts in the world, the number of people migrating to Brazil has been increasing, especially from Venezuela, through the state of Roraima, from Haiti, and even more recently refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan,” she explained.

The guidebook which also had the support of Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP), and the Chubb Rule of Law Fund, is available in Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish so far.

Organizations such as the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) and Caritas are in charge of distributing the book. One can also have access to it by means of QR codes at airports and at the main entry points for foreigners in Brazil. Another plan is to translate it into some other languages like indigenous ones, focusing on the area of Roraima, the lawyer added.

The custody hearing is a procedure used by the Brazilian Justice System in which the legal conditions of detentions are analyzed. At this moment, the prisoner meets with a judge, who verifies if the arrest is really necessary, or if the person arrested should be released. This must happen within 24 hours of incarceration. The fact of being guilty or innocent is not decided in this process, only the legality of the act of imprisonment.

Ana Luiza points out that this procedure is recent in Brazil’s justice system. It was created in 2015 and it is fundamental to avoid unnecessary prolonged stays in prisons. “It helps to improve the condition of overcrowded prisons in the country,” she pointed out.

Other information

With accessible language and concrete examples, the booklet describes each of the possible steps to be taken in a custody hearing. Illustrations and dialogues are used to describe situations that can be experienced at the moment of a custody hearing.

The text also includes special topics on the rights of women prisoners, the LGBTQIA+ population, and people with disabilities. Contacts and websites of all public defenders in all Brazilian states, and of the Public Defender’s Office of Brazil`s government are also available.