The Federal Senate approved, this Tuesday (20), the bill that ends the temporary release of prisoners on holidays and commemorative dates, but maintains the authorization for inmates in a semi-open regime to study outside of prison. As the senators made changes, the proposal will be analyzed again by the Chamber of Deputies, which approved the project in 2022.
The proposal was approved by 62 votes in favor and two against – from senators Cid Gomes (PSB-CE) and Rogério Carvalho (PT-SE).
Current legislation provides for a temporary release, known as “exit”, for convicts in the semi-open regime. They can leave prison five times a year to visit family on holidays, study abroad or participate in resocialization activities.
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According to the rapporteur of the proposal in the Senate, Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), the bill approved today seeks to extinguish the temporary exit in view of the recurring cases of detained prisoners who commit criminal offenses while enjoying this benefit. “By allowing prisoners who have not yet been reintegrated into society to benefit from temporary release, the Public Authorities are putting the entire population at risk,” he argued.
The approved proposal also provides for the carrying out of a criminological examination to allow the progression of convicts to the regime. According to the text, a convict will only be entitled to the benefit if he “displays good prison conduct, proven by the director of the establishment and by the results of the criminological examination”.
“The exam is a medical board in which a group of doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers will technically determine the person’s ability to be entitled to regime progression or conditional release”, explained the senator.
According to an amendment presented by Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR) at the Public Security Commission, prisoners are allowed to leave to attend a professional, secondary or higher education course. Prisoners who committed a heinous crime or a crime committed with violence or serious threats against a person do not qualify for this permission.
The project establishes rules for monitoring prisoners using electronic ankle bracelets. According to the proposal, the judge can determine electronic supervision as a requirement for serving sentences in the open and semi-open regime and for prisoners with restricted public circulation and to establish conditional release.
The legislation will be called the “Sergeant PM Dias Law”, in honor of the military police officer from Minas Gerais who was killed in January this year during a chase in the capital of Minas Gerais. The perpetrator of the crime was a beneficiary of the temporary departure.
Government
The government leader in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), released the government bench to vote. According to him, there is still no position established by the government on the possibility of vetoing the proposal.
The leader of the PT in the senate, Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES), expressed his support for the basic text of the project and also released the bench for voting. He said he was against the temporary release of prisoners.
Resocialization
Experts consulted by Agência Brasil assess that the termination of the benefit is not related to the drop in crime.
The National Secretary of Penal Policies (Senappen), Rafael Velasco, recalls that compliance with the benefit of temporary release is not exclusive to Brazil, that it exists throughout the world, and that it is absolutely necessary to resume life outside of prison after serving the sentence.
“It is a humanitarian benefit, it serves for the progressive social reintegration of the prisoner, it serves within the processes of his resocialization, bringing both family and social closer together”, highlights the secretary.
The executive director of the Institute for the Defense of the Right to Defense (IDDD), Marina Dias, assesses that the temporary departure is extremely important for the process of resocialization, of resuming the life of that person who is already serving their sentence, but is already in a process of ending their sentence, precisely to resume their ties in the community and with their families.
Incarcerated people who have the right to temporary release are those who are in the semi-open regime, that is, who can leave prison at some point to work, study or for activities that can contribute to their social reintegration.
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