COVID-19 in prisons: a study of habeas corpus decisions by the São Paulo Court of Justice

Abstract

Brazil has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Global South-a pandemic that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, especially those detained and imprisoned. Legal institutions are struggling to respond. In this paper, we focus on the National Council of Justice’s Recommendation 62, issued March 17, 2020, which recommends that judges take several measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection in prisons. We test this recommendation’s impact by looking at habeas corpus decisions in the São Paulo Court of Justice. The exploratory findings presented here indicate that Recommendation 62 has little impact on habeas decisions. In general, citing the recommendation does not lead the Court to grant early release or house arrest to those detained, and most habeas actions are decided against petitioners. This is true even when petitioners claim to be part of a risk group, or their alleged offense did not involve violence or serious threat-factors that should favor habeas relief under Recommendation 62.

The relevancy of massive health education in the Brazilian prison system: The course “health care for people deprived of freedom” and its impacts

“…Table 2 shows that this phenomenon occurred in all country regions except the Southeast region, where a drop was reported in 2020. In this instance, it could be explained by the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Supreme Court of Brazil authorized the temporary release of imprisoned persons in high-risk groups, releasing ~30,000 people ( 42 ). Finally, the Southeast Region holds the largest prison population, with ~46% of imprisoned people (see Table 2 ).…”

Disputas sobre a gestão da pandemia de Covid-19 nas prisões brasileiras

“…No Brasil não foi diferente: de 10 artigos recuperados sobre o tema no Scielo Brasil, três deles estão em revistas que não são de saúde pública. Da parte dos autores, houve uma expectativa de que a R62 do CNJ abrisse a oportunidade para o desencarceramento diante da urgência da COVID (Duque et al, 2022;Bianchi et al, 2022;Crispim et al, 2021;Costa et al, 2020;Vasconcelos, Machado, & Wang, 2020 Como uma instituição central no campo do controle do crime, a prisão encontra-se atravessada por disputas, tensionamentos e acomodações que, se por um lado, demonstram avanços normativos, orientando-se por uma perspectiva mais garantista, por outro, defronta-se com o punitivismo (Garland, 2008). Assim, na efetivação de normativas como a R62, tão relevante quanto analisar sua aplicabilidade, é compreender os movimentos de tensão e disputa em que ela esteve inserida, de modo a compreender as motivações que impactam sua efetividade, investigando posições de alguns dos atores envolvidos e formas de atuação.…”