Every Year Prisoners on Christmas Furlough Go AWOL in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Every year prisoners in a work-release regime in Rio de Janeiro’s penitentiary system are granted leave to spend Christmas time outside prison.

Before 2017, they were also allowed to spend New Year away, but in 2019 all prisoners were to have returned by December 30th.

As of January 7th 2020, 422 prisoners were still unaccounted for and are considered to be fugitives. When found, they are liable to be restored to a full confinement regime without the benefits of the work-release status.

Among prisoners furloughed this year were members of the police and members of the military who committed crimes during the course of duty. Bolsonaro personally signed off on this measure on December 23rd, presumably in an attempt to be favored by his support base. Some criticized this move as it comes amid growing police violence, particularly in Rio de Janeiro.

On Wednesday, January 8th, one of the missing prisoners, Leandro Salles Olímpio Manijo, was arrested on Copacabana Beach by the Civil Police. He was serving a five-year sentence for robbery, for which he was convicted in June 2018.

As the inmates granted this short release are not high-security prisoners, they should not, in theory, represent a great danger to the public. These prison leaves are not automatically granted to prisoners in the work-release system and must be authorized by a judge.

They can last up to seven days, to a maximum of 35 days per year, and must have a 45 day interval between them. These releases are usually granted over Christmas, Mother’s Day and Easter.

Every year there are numerous non-returns after Christmas. Over the 2019 Christmas, 2,582 prisoners in Rio de Janeiro were temporarily released, setting the evasion rate at 16.3 percent, a slight increase over the 2018 rate which stood at 15 percent (289 prisoners).