Francisco D´Oliveria Conde Prison for Women - by Kelly

On Tuesday afternoon (4th April), I was taken to meet Dr Marra, who we had met yesterday at the Courts. Dr Marra had kindly agreed to take me to Francisco D’Oliveria Conde Prison for a visit and what a culture shock it was!!

This is a prison that has two sites to it, one site is for Women and the other men, the male and female prisoners don’t mix together although all the food in prepared in one kictchen by the male prisoners for both sites. I met Dr Marra and we were escorted through the Women’s prison by two armed guards. This prison was nothing like the three I have previously visited in Brazil, and in my opinion and from talking to Dr Marra, this was much more more reflective of the prisons in Brazil. Whilst I had imagined the prisons being very different in Brazil, the reality was still quite shocking to see.

There are 170 Women Prisoners serving sentences here. 75% of the Women have been sentenced for drug offences and Dr Marra explained that a large number of these offences were linked to the Women’s partners drug misuse and the women smuggling drugs into their partners in prison. I tried to ask as many questions as possible and Dr Marra was really helpful although the language barrier was difficult. I was interested to know if the Women served full sentences and half on licence as in England. For drug offences, they would serve two thirds and the last third they would be released into the community to work.

We walked to the cells and I was shocked by the number of faces at the bars. There were different size cells but all were absolutely crammed with women and even for the larger cells, they were far too overcrowded. One of the cells had 23 Women sharing!! Dr Marra asked would I like to go into the cell to meet the women so I did. The cell was jam packed and with bunk beds and the head was unbearable. The women were very friendly although it was difficult to communicate with them because of the language barrier and they clapped and laughed as I attempted to speak Portuguese to them. One of the Women told me she had just received a 13 year sentence for smuggling drugs, I found it hard to imagine her being in that cell almost ten years. The Women make ornaments from wool in their cells and sell them at the weekend on visiting days to raise money for their families. One of the women gave me a pink woollen lady bird and insisted that I took it as a gift. I was really shocked about the number of women in one cell and I asked Dr Marra how often the Women would come out for exercise and she said for two hours per day and she took me to the exercise area which was a really tiny space. It was hard to believe that the Women could survive lengthy sentences, locked up with 22 other women, in stifling heat with only 2 hours of daylight and exercise per day. Dr Marra explained she was trying desperately to improve the conditions of the Prison’s in Brazil and said this prison has had significant improvements made and that it used to be much worse, I just couldn’t imagine how things could have been any worse!

The next part of the visit was where the pregnant women and mothers and babies were. This was probably the most shocking for me to see. The women were not in a separate unit to the others, just a different cell. The cells weren’t as overcrowded but they were still far too full. The babies didn’t have cribs or cots. There were homemade hammocks suspended from bunk beds. For example one woman may be sleeping on the bottom bunk bed and her baby in a hammock from the top bunk bed. All the baby products, nappies bottles ect, were also in homemade hammocks hanging from the beds. It was quite surreal and I wondered about illness with the babies when comparing to the sterile environment babies things are kept in England. There was a three week old baby in one of the hammocks in the cell I visited.

I asked Dr Marra about Education and Employment in the prison and she explained that only about twelve women worked potting plants in the garden for the government to use. Another ten women were working with recycled paper making gift boxes, I went over to visit this project and once again was kindly given a present. Aside from these work places, the rest of the women were locked up 22 hours per day.

Dr Marra explained that once the Women were incarcerated, many of them did not know were their children had gone and would not see them again. There is no substance misuse treatment or counselling available to the Women in prison and there are many mental health problems experienced amongst the prisoners.

After the visit, Dr Marra took me for an icecream and we talked about the differences in the prisons in Brazil and England and about our views of women in custody and the impact this has on children. Dr Marra said she is desperately trying to improve conditions at the prison and educate the women to be independant and not rely on their partners or be persuaded into drug supply. I talked to Dr Marra about the Tomorrow´s Women Project (TWW) that I am involved in at home and whilst this is a far cry from the services available to Women in Brazil, Dr Marra was extremely interested and asked could we keep in touch and share ideas about female offending.

Dr Marra is a very inspiring woman, she is passionate about the work she is involved in and I feel very priveledged to have spent the day with her and shared experiences. The visit was definitely a culture shock and the images of the women and particularly the babies, is something I will never forget.