Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil

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Études rurales

196 | 2015 Multiplicités anthropologiques au Brésil

Disrespecting indigenous rights in the prison system of Roraima state, Brazil Le non-respect des droits des peuples autochtones dans le système pénitentiaire de l'État du Roraima, Brésil

Stephen G Baines

Édition électronique URL : http://journals.openedition.org/etudesrurales/10417 DOI : 10.4000/etudesrurales.10417 ISSN : 1777-537X

Éditeur Éditions de l’EHESS

Édition imprimée Date de publication : 15 septembre 2015 Pagination : 109-126

Référence électronique Stephen G Baines, « Disrespecting indigenous rights in the prison system of Roraima state, Brazil », Études rurales [En ligne], 196 | 2015, mis en ligne le 01 juillet 2015, consulté le 11 février 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/etudesrurales/10417 ; DOI : 10.4000/etudesrurales.10417

© Tous droits réservés DISRESPECTING Stephen G. Baines INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN THE PRISON SYSTEM OF RORAIMA STATE, BRAZIL same institutional space, to examine how the indigenous peoples express their own expe- rience of deprivation of liberty, from the notions of “total institution” [Goffman 1974] and surveillance and punishment in penitentiary institutions of Michel Foucault [1979], taking into consideration the extremely assymetrical social relations of subjection/ domination [Cardoso de Oliveira 1996] in which indigenous peoples are incorporated into Brazilian society. The concept of “coloniality of power” [Quijano 2000] helps to EXAMINE the situation of indigenous peo- understand the enormous inequalities and ple in the prisons of Boa Vista, the capital injustices in which indigenous peoples live in I of Roraima State, in the extreme north of Latin America, describing the living legacy of the Amazon basin in Brazil, starting from a colonialism in contemporary societies in the research survey carried out in January 2008 form of social discrimination and racism that and 2009 [Baines 2009]. Since then, research outlived formal colonialism and became inte- has been continued in short periods of three grated in succeeding social orders. weeks during university recess at the begin- The aim of this paper is to present some ning of the year in 2011, 2012, 2014, and of the results of this research. The information 2015. This research fits within the research gathered in Roraima State reinforces conclu- tradition in anthropology with indigenous sions drawn in surveys carried out in other peoples in Brazil in being politically engaged Brazilian states, including a survey made by [Melatti 1984: 19-20] in the sense of being the Brazilian Anthropological Association and involved directly in the process of informing the Superior School of the Federal Public indigenous people in prison of their rights Ministry 1 in which I participated, gathering so that they can claim them, considering that the majority are unaware of the specific rights they are entitled to. I started the survey with indigenous pris- 1. ABA/ESMPU (Associação brasileira de antropologia/ oners, establishing contacts with various gov- Escola superior do Ministério público da união), “Cri- ernmental and non-governmental organizations minalização e situação prisional de Índios no Brasil” in Boa Vista which work with indigenous peo- (edital projeto de pesquisa ESMPU No. 19/2006). Rela- tório final convênio: Procuradoria Geral da República ples and with the prison system. I then examine (PGR), Associação brasileira de antropologia (ABA). some statements from indigenous people in Coordenador: Cristhian Teófilo da Silva (ABA, UnB), prison and custodial officers who share the Brasília, Distrito federal, maio 2008.

Études rurales, juillet-décembre 2015, 196 : 109-126

109 Stephen G. Baines

... 110 data for Roraima State, in 2008. 2 In Roraima, by the majority of officials is that everyone I observed a disregard for indigenous identi- should be treated equally before the Law, ties by government functionaries (police offi- regardless of whether they are indigenous or cers, prosecutors, judges, the State Secretary non-indigenous, revealing a lack of awareness for Public Security, State Secretary for Justice of the differentiated rights of indigenous peo- and Citizenship, etc.). This disregard results ples in the 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution. in an inaccuracy of official statistics relating Several indigenous prisoners have raised claims to the contingent of indigenous persons arres- for differential treatment, such as, for example, ted and their “invisibility” as subjects of alternative sentences carried out on indigenous the Law. A multitude of situations involving lands in the case of crimes practised within indigenous people are present in Roraima indigenous lands, with the consent of the State, from internal problems between indige- communities and councils of indigenous lead- nous people on indigenous lands 3 to situations ers (tuxauas), and/or a separate wing in the of indigenous people living in towns, cases prisons. Indigenous persons in prison say that involving indigenous and non-indigenous people, and indigenous people born in cities, villages and farms outside of indigenous lands. 2. ABA/ESMPU, “Processos de criminalização indí- gena em Roraima/Brasil” (número do formulário: There are cases involving indigenous people 2008.2.1.1.297). Edital projeto de pesquisa ESMPU who have spent most of their lives in indige- No. 98/2007. Relatório final convênio: Procuradoria nous communities, and other cases involving Geral da República (PGR), Associação brasileira de indigenous people displaced from their land, antropologia (ABA). Coordenadores: Stephen G. Baines raised in urban centres, who have a long and (UnB) e Cristhian Teófilo da Silva (ABA, UnB), Brasília, Distrito federal, março 2009. intense coexistence within the national society. In addition to the ethnic by jurists, and the 3. In Brazil “indigenous land” is a juridical category fact that a large part of the prison population which designates lands of traditional use and occupation by indigenous peoples which are demarcated by the do not have documents, some indigenous federal government, which they need to maintain their prisoners choose not to identify themselves, ways of life, according Article 231 of the Federal Cons- and others assume the racist stereotypes about titution (1988). In Brazil, a total of 1.131.856 km2 or indigenous peoples current in the regional approximately 13.3% of the land surface have been society. In addition, government functionaries demarcated as “indigenous lands”, although many of these lands have been invaded and occupied by non- have no administrative guidance to identify indigenous peoples. See http://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/ prisoners according to their ethnic identity. c/terras-indigenas/demarcacoes/localizacao-e-extensao- Both the indigenous prisoners serving prison das-tis (access on 15/02/2014). In Roraima, a Brazilian sentences, and indigenous young people in state which has one of the largest populations of indige- the Juvenile Detention Centre in Boa Vista nous peoples, “indigenous lands” make up a total of 10.370.676 hectares or 46.20% of the land surface of who are fulfilling “corrective measures”, are this state. See http://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/c/terras- rendered invisible in the statistics of the insti- indigenas/demarcacoes/localizacao-e-extensao-das-tis tutions. A universalist perspective expressed (access on 18/11/2014).

110 Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil

... they are doubly discriminated by the fact of Guidelines 111 being prisoners and also indigenous. Taking into account the immensely asym- According to Michel Foucault: metric interethnic system that underlies social Penal imprisonment, from the beginning practices, law enforcement and criminal cases of the nineteenth century, covered both in Brazilian society, it is necessary to consider the deprivation of liberty and the techni- the obstacles faced by indigenous peoples to cal transformation of individuals [1979: gain access to justice, and to study the possi- 233]. bilities of creating differentiated prison insti- The prison must be an exhaustive disciplinary apparatus: it must assume respon- tutions and alternative measures, to bring into sibility for all aspects of the individual, effect the constitutional rights of indigenous his physical training, his aptitude to peoples in Brazil. work, his everyday conduct, his moral In little more than a year after starting attitude, his state of mind [...] the prison this research project the first results of this has neither exterior nor gap, it cannot be interrupted, except when its task is engaged research started to appear as some totally completed; its action on the indi- indigenous prisoners in Roraima began to vidual must be uninterrupted: an unceas- organize themselves politically to claim the ing discipline. Lastly, it gives almost differentiated indigenous rights guaranteed by total power over the prisoners; it has its the Constitution, which also became the sub- internal mechanisms of repression and ject of debate in the Organization of Indige- punishment: a despotic discipline [1979: 235-236]. nous People in the City (Organizaça˜o dos indígenas da cidade: ODIC) in Boa Vista. Foucault also asserts that: At the Public Defense Office in the State of Roraima, many of the issues raised are being Although it is true that prison punishes discussed, especially the fact that many indig- delinquency, delinquency is for the most part produced in and by incarceration enous people are held in pretrial detention for [...] The delinquent is an institutional periods far beyond the legal period. The pos- product [1979: 301]. sibility of setting up a separate wing in the penitentiary institutions to house detainees In undergraduate research on the Agri- has been taken up by federal prosecutors in cultural Prison of Monte Cristo in Boa Vista, Roraima. Roraima, Jonildo Viana dos Santos affirms: This article examines the complex situation regarding indigenous identity and constitu- Today it is clear that the prison is a school for the maintenance, reproduc- tional rights in the prison system in Roraima, tion and even improvement of criminal Brazil, and the emergence of a consciousness conduct [2004: 63]. of differentiated indigenous rights in a society where these rights have been historically The official goals of the penal system to denied. submit the population of prison inmates to

111 Stephen G. Baines

... 112 resocialization are reified in the prison admin- Portuguese colony. The process of settlement istration’s jargon of “reeducation” and “cor- of indigenous people by the Portuguese in rective measures”. The situation of indigenous “multiethnically composed settlements”, in peoples is aggravated by the fact that they the second half of the 18th century, is suffer discrimination for being ethnically dif- described by Nádia Farage [1991: 125], using ferent and poor. The concept of “coloniality historical sources to reveal that there were a of power” of Anibal Quijano [2000] identifies number of uprisings in response to the “over- the racial, political and social hierarchical exploitation of the labor of settled Indians” orders imposed by European colonialism in [ibid.: 131]. 4 Farage also reports massive Latin America that valued the European escapes of indigenous people that spread colonizers while disenfranchising indigenous through these settlements “in proportion to peoples, putting them at the bottom of the the violence used by the Portuguese to repress colonial power structure due to their different them” [id.]. When repeated attempts to keep phenotypic traits and cultures presumed to be indigenous people in settlements on the Rio inferior. The discrimination continues to be Branco failed, the Portuguese colonizers began reflected in the structure of modern post- to send them as prisoners to serve as laborers colonial societies. in other regions of the Amazon basin where Although the vast majority of indigenous escape was impossible. prisoners in Roraima were born in this state, Throughout the 19th century, Paulo San- a small number have Guyanese nationality, tilli [2002] relates the practice of illegal expe- others are Guyanese indigenous living in ditions to capture indigenous people as slaves Brazil for many years, or their descendants in this region after indigenous slavery had [Baines 2006]. For indigenous people who been banned in the Amazon basin in 1755. live on the border, these differences are of However, “slavery continued in the form of little relevance, considering that the political private expeditions which relied on the active boundaries of national states were imposed on support of government representatives in the their territories only in 1904 in the case of the area to recruit indigenous labor force for rub- Guyana border [Rivière 1995]. ber extraction” [2002: 493] in the forests of the lower Rio Branco, which resulted in the indigenous population fleeing from contact Indigenous Prisoners with White people. The practice of imprisoning indigenous peo- The Federal Constitution of Brazil of 1988 ple in the area which currently makes up assures indigenous peoples the right to their the State of Roraima is not new. From early difference, that is, the right to be different and in colonial history indigenous people of this to be treated differently: region were captured and disciplined in settlements which shared the characteristics of a “total institution” [Goffman 1974] in the 4. Translated by the author.

112 Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil

... Indians shall have their social organi- However, the process of criminalization of 113 zation, customs, languages, creeds and indigenous prisoners itself denies their ethnic- traditions recognized, as well as their original rights to the lands they tra- ity, from the common sense assumption that ditionally occupy, it being incumbent everyone should be treated equally before the upon the Union to demarcate them, pro- Law, and the fact that indigenous people them- tect and ensure respect for all of their selves often identify with arguments of police property (Article 231). and prison officers, denying their identity. A In the case of execution of a sentence of survey carried out by the Centro de trabalho 6 imprisonment or provisional arrest of indige- indigenista (CTI) in Mato Grosso do Sul nous people, it must be carried out as regu- State 7, together with the Universidade cató- lated by articles 56 and 57 of the Indian lica Dom Bosco 8 (UCDB) reveals that there Statute (Law No. 6,001 of 19/12/1973): is a disrespect for human rights from the ini- tial police investigation. Many of the indige- In case of conviction of an Indian for a nous people in prison do not understand criminal offense, the penalty should be mitigated and in its application the judge Portuguese, which hinders their comprehen- should take into consideration the degree sion of the charges brought against them and of integration of the forest dweller of the defense process, since they often do not 5 (silvícola ). understand the procedural situation and rules Custodial sentences and detention will of the prison system. Biviani Rojas Garzón be fulfilled, if possible, in a special and Raul Silva Telles do Valle [2006] empha- regime of semi-liberty, in the place where a federal agency for assistance to size that the issue of indigenous rights in Indians operates closest to the convicted Brazil is no longer their legal recognition, but Indian’s home (Article 56). the application of these rights, considering the The application of penal or disciplinary enormous distance between recognized rights sanctions against their members by tribal and their being brought into effect. groups, according to their own institutions, will be tolerated, provided they are not of cruel or degrading character, the death penalty being prohibited in all cases (Article 57). 5. The term “silvícola” (forest dweller) reflects the According to international legislation, in ideal of the “Indian” in popular imagery in the period the case of indigenous prisoners, Convention in which the Indian Statute was written, associating 169 of the International Labor Organisation, indigenous peoples with forests. of which Brazil is a signatory, states in para- 6. Centre for Indigenist Work. graph 2 of Article 10: 7. “Situação dos detentos indígenas do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul”, Brasília, 2008. Preference must be given to other types of punishment than imprisonment. 8. Dom Bosco Catholic University.

113 Stephen G. Baines

... 114 Roraima State The population census carried out by the agreement between the Indigenous Council Roraima State is located in the extreme north of Roraima (Conselho indígena de Roraima: of Brazil, and borders Venezuela and Guyana, CIR) and the former government National 2 occupying an area of 224,298.98 km . The Health Foundation (FUNASA) shows a rapid creation of the administrative region, Capita- increase of the population in most communi- nia Real de Saõ José do Rio Negro, by the ties. In 2005, just in the Eastern District of Charter-Regia of March 3, 1755, was the Roraima, which comprises ten municipalities, result of the concern of the Portuguese in health teams reported 33,108 people, espe- establishing the borders of the colony and fear cially in the highland region of northeast of Dutch expansion into the Amazon basin Roraima. [Farage 1991]. With the establishment of Forte According to IBGE data, the total popula- Saõ Joaquim do Rio Branco in 1775, many tion of Roraima in the last national census of indigenous settlements were established, in- 2010, was 395,725, of whom 284,313 live in cluding the settlements of Nossa Senhora do the state capital Boa Vista. In this national Carmo, founded by Carmelites. During the census, the IBGE data classify the population Brazilian Empire it was elevated to the status of Roraima by “color-race” as: 20.9% “White”, of a town (1858) and with the proclamation 4.1% “Black”, 61.2% “Pardo” (Brown-skinned), of the Republic (1889) the town was renamed and 11% “Indigenous”, being presented as the Boa Vista do Rio Branco (1890). The present- Brazilian state with the highest percentage of day State of Roraima was dismembered from indigenous people, 6.1% of the total indige- Amazonas in 1943, creating the Federal Terri- nous population of Brazil 11, with 49,637 self- tory of Rio Branco, later renamed as the Fed- declared “indigenous people” and a popula- eral Territory of Roraima (1962), and turned tion increase of 5.8% per annum, while in the into a state by the Constitution of 1988. municipality of Uiramuta˜ indigenous peoples The indigenous peoples in the State of make up 88.1% of the population. The state Roraima are primarily speakers of the Carib, capital Boa Vista has an indigenous popu- Arawak and Yanomami language groups. lation calculated as 8,550 by the IBGE. 12 According to the Brazilian non-government Instituto socioambiental 9 (ISA), the indigenous population of Roraima in 2008 was 9. Socio-Environmental Institute. 32,771 individuals. The government indigen- 10. National Indian Foundation. ist agency Fundaçaõ nacional do Índio 10 11. Site of the IBGE consulted on 15/03/2014, p. 3. See (FUNAI) calculated the indigenous popula- https://www.ibge.gov.br/indigenas/indigenas_censo2010 tion of Roraima to be 31,265, while the Bra- pdf. zilian Institute for Geography and Statistics 12. Site of the IBGE consulted on 15/03/2014, p. 20. (IBGE) estimate was 23,422. Roraima State See https://www.ibge.gov.br/indigenas/indigenas_censo has a total of more than 30 indigenous lands. 2010pdf.

114 Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil

... These statistics represent a partial correction system there has not been even a partial cor- 115 of the demographic data about the indigenous rection of statistical data, largely due to what population compared with previous censuses, I argue as being the process of criminalization but depend on self-identification in a state which makes indigenous prisoners ethnically where many people choose not to identify as invisible. “indigenous” considering the strong racial In the prison system, most of the staff use discrimination. the common sense categories of the regional Discussing the indigenous population reg- society, believing that indigenous people who istered in the national censuses, Joa˜o Pacheco live in the city are no longer “Indians”, and de Oliveira Filho [1999] points out that the often see them through the categories of the categories used in the censuses are directly national census itself, which have been incor- related to the ideals of Brazilian nation-building. porated into the prison computer system soft- Within the nation-building issue there is an ware called “Canaimé”. This software, installed anachronistic and racist ideal of whitening of in the prisons of Roraima in 2006, records the the Brazilian population. Regarding the cen- name and address of the prisoner, data about sus category “Brown-skinned” (cor parda), the crime, the prison regime in which s/he is Oliveira Filho comments that using this “opera- placed and ethnicity. tional category – which is artificial, arbitrary The category “Brown-skinned” is not in and of a technical-scientific appearance – in common use in the region outside the context reality is invalidating the census as a more of the IBGE national census, and also covers accurate tool for sociological analysis and a plethora of regional terms such as “cabo- transforming it into a passive legitimizing dis- clo” 13, “civilized Indian”, “cafuzo” (afro course of miscegenation” [1999: 128-129]. mixed), and others. The use of the category Oliveira Filho observes, in the case of “Brown-skinned” can partially explain the Roraima State, that: low estimate of indigenous peoples in the prison system of Roraima, turning invisible a In the North, where there was no signifi- cant transfer of black slaves nor exten- large part of the population that in other con- sive flows of immigrants, the category texts might consider themselves “indigenous”. “Brown-skinned” evokes primarily an indigenous ancestry or identity [ibid.: 134].

In the 2010 national census, a partial cor- 13. The ambiguos term “caboclo” or “caboco” is used rection of previous data, explains an appar- in the Amazon Region of Brazil as the equivalent of the ently enormous increase in the indigenous contradictory term “civilized Indian” in which “civi- population through a more detailed examina- lized” and “Indian” are held in opposition. It is often used as equivalent to, “mixed blood”, “acculturated tion of the category “Indigenous”, although Indian”, “mestizo”, all in opposition to the romantic the terms of “race” or “colour” persist in the stereotype of the “pure Indian”. The term has been reap- general census data. However, in the prison propriated by some Afro-Brazilian religions.

115 Stephen G. Baines

... 116 The Prison System of Roraima incomplete data for this year by the InfoPen, and in the section “Number of prisoners by The five state penal institutions in Roraima skin colour-ethnicity”, only 40 detainees were are administered by the State Secretary of registered as being “Indigenous”, 152 as Justice and Citizenship (SEJUC) and include: “White”, 301 as “Black”, none as “Yellow”, the Public Jail of Boa Vista, the Public Jail nor as “Others”. However 942 were registered of Sa˜o Luíz do Anauá; the Professor Aracelis as “Brown-skinned”. In December 2008, for Souto Maior Pension for prisoners in regime which more details are given, of a total state of semi-liberty; the Agricultural Prison of population of 412,783, the total number of Monte Cristo (PAMC) 14 built in 1989, and persons in custody was published as being the Women’s Prison of Monte Cristo. Another 1,522, of which 1,493 were in the prison sys- prison is under construction in the town of tem, and of which 48 were registered as being Rorainópolis on the BR-174 Highway, due to “indigenous”. The prison capacity in 2008 was be inaugurated in 2014-2015. for 538 prisoners in the state prison system, One feature that prisons in Roraima share there being approximately three times more with others in the national prison system is prisoners. However, despite this apparent severe overcrowding. According to statistical decline in prison population in Roraima between 2008 and 2012, possibly due to incom- data released by the Integrated System of plete data, in a newspaper article published Information on Prisons (Ministério da Justiça, in early 2014, “according to the SEJUC, Sistema nacional de informaça˜o penitenciá- Roraima has a capacity for 1,106 prisoners ria: InfoPen 15, 2015) in June 2014 the total in the prison system, however, this number population of prisoners in the Brazilian prison is insufficient with a prison population of system and in police custody in Brazil was 1,666”. 17 According to the InfoPen report 16 calculated as 607,731 of which 579,423 in June 2014 there were 1,610 prisoners in were in the prison system with a total prison Roraima, being the state with the largest capacity for 376,669. Of the total only 0.2% were registered as “indigenous”. The prison population in Brazil has been growing very 14. The Agricultural Prison of Monte Cristo was ori- ginally designed to be a prison which involved the rapidly accompanying population increase. As inmates in agricultural work, but, according to a prison a comparison, in December 2008 the total officer “was never agricultural beyond its name”. prison population of Brazil was 451,219 15. System of statistical information of the Brazilian (Ministério da Justiça, InfoPen), with a prison prison system which resumes information about prison capacity for 296,428 and a total of 511 pris- units and the prison population. oners registered as “indigenous”. 16. Brazilian Ministry of Justice, InfoPen site, June 2014, For Roraima State, in December 2012, of Departamento penitenciário (DEPEN). See relatorio- a total population of 451,227 inhabitants the depen-versao-web%20(2).pdf. total prison population was published with 17. Folha de Boa Vista, 17/03/2014, p. 7.

116 Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil

... indigenous population in prison of around report on Roraima, the first reason for which 117 6.3% of the total. indigenous people are imprisoned is involve- In the Agricultural Prison of Monte Cristo, ment with drugs (30.91%), being sentenced I was told on 29/01/2009 that the prison under Article 12 of Law 6.368/76 or Article capacity was for 414 prisoners, with 964, 33 of Law 11.343/07. It is observed that: while in the Women’s Prison I was informed A recurring complaint from detainees that there was space for 72 with 129 prison- sentenced for these crimes is that they ers. The situation in the penitentiary system were deprived of access to defense early in Roraima is considered to be critical by the in the police investigation, and several judicial authorities. In January 2008, Roraima of them who allege that they are just State had a deficit of 693 vacancies, and over- drug users, were sentenced as “traf- fickers”. 18 crowding was present in all prison units. The tables published by the InfoPen for This is frequently the complaint raised by Roraima State reveal a disproportion of women who allege that their partner, often prisoners classified as “brown-skinned” that non-indigenous, was involved with drug traf- subsumes certainly an unknown number of ficking without their knowledge and they indigenous detainees and partly explains the were arrested and charged when the police reduced number of indigenous prisoners and raided their home in Boa Vista and found the excessively high number of “brown- drugs, in the absence of the partner. skinned” prisoners. From a total of 1,359 The second reason for which indigenous arrested, only 240 were classified as “White”, people are imprisoned (25.45%): 187 as “Black”, 1 as “Yellow”, 45 as “Indi- [...] are the crimes, referred to in Article genous” and the vast majority of 886 as 121 of the Constitution, of attempted “Brown-skinned” (Table 1). murder or murder [...], the complaint of In data released by the InfoPen for June the detainees is a lack of monitoring at 2008 on the “number of crimes attempted- the stage of police investigation, which consummated” in all the prison system of would allow greater accuracy in the investigation of the facts, revealing that Roraima State, the crimes that were numeri- the majority of these crimes resulted cally predominant are presented in Table 2. from self-defense. 19 The profile of indigenous prisoners, with regard to the quantity of crimes follows, in The third most frequent cause of imprison- general, the profile of all prisoners for the ment (20%): State of Roraima, with small differences that [...] regards crimes with a sexual conno- can be explained partly by the fact that many tation of rape and indecent assault. In crimes considered minor are resolved within indigenous communities and only crimes considered to be more serious reach the state jus- 18. ABA/ESMPU, 2009, p. 22. tice system. According to the ABA/ESMPU 19. ABA/ESMPU, 2009, p. 23.

117 Table 1. Prisoners by skin color and ethnicity (sample of 80%)

Male Female Total

White 200 40 240

Black 172 15 187

Brown-skinned 815 71 886

Yellow 101

Indigenous 37845

Others 000

1.359

Source: InfoPen http://www.mj.gov.br/data/Pages/MJD574E9CEITEMIDC37B2AE94C6840068B1624D28407509CPTBRIE.htm (consulted on 15/05/2009)

Table 2. Crimes attempted-consummated (over 50 people criminalized) in June 2008

Crime Masculine Feminine Total

Indecent assault (Penal Code, Article 214) 52 52

Rape (Penal Code, Article 158) 53 53

Qualified theft (Penal Code, Article 155, § 4 and 5) 94 94

Simple theft (Penal Code, Article 155) 154 3 157

Simple murder (Penal Code, Caput 121) 65 2 67

Qualified robbery (Penal Code, Article 157, § 2) 131 3 134

Simple robbery (Penal Code, Article 157) 58 1 59

Drug trafficking (Law 6.368/76, Article 12) 199 55 254

International drug trafficking (Law 6.368, Article 18, Section 1) 128 47 175

Source: data adapted from InfoPen http://www.mj.gov.br/data/Pages/MJD574E9CEITEMIDC37B2AE94C6840068B1624D28407509CPTBRIE.htm (consulted on 15/05/2009)

118 Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil

... such cases the vast majority of indige- under 14 years of age, with penalty of impris- 119 nous people have not accepted respon- onment for eight to fifteen years”. Many sibility for the crimes. Here it is worth indigenous people explained that marital rela- remembering the fundamental necessity of taking into consideration forms of tions of indigenous men with indigenous girls social organization and kinship of the under the age of 14 are acceptable in their group to which the accused belongs in cultures when there is consensus between the the process of criminal investigation. 20 families concerned. Declarations of indigenous prisoners reveal I interviewed several prisoners who had conflicts of interpretations within indigenous been sentenced for rape. A 35 year old Wap- communities and a reaction by many young ishana man, interviewed at the Public Jail in indigenous women to sexual behavior towards 2012 and 2014, informed me that he had been women in the past in which the indigenous sentenced to forty five years imprisonment peoples lived in situations of extreme exploi- (including aggravations) in closed regime tation and subordination by the regional popu- under Article 217-A of the Penal Code, “to lation, which has undergone drastic changes have sexual intercourse or practice other lewd over recent decades. Conduct that would have acts with a minor under 14 years”, after being been acceptable a few decades ago is ques- denounced by a neighbor for living with a tioned by some young women who have 14 year-old girl. He alleged that his relation higher education, knowledge of feminist ideo- with the girl was consensual and that he con- logies, and no longer accept sexual conduct sidered this normal, but that his neighbor had considered by some to be traditional. denounced him after a dispute over another matter. According to a public defense lawyer, The fourth reason for arrests is robbery many indigenous men are accused of rape: and theft (20%) and the remainder of impris- onments of indigenous persons stem from It is a cultural matter, but the judge sees charges for other crimes (7.27%). 21 Those it as rape of a vulnerable minor as the crimes considered to be serious and result in Law states 14 years of age. arrests include murder, attempted murder, She added: rape, indecent assault, robbery, theft, and drug trafficking. Few of the reported crimes are One judge here is especially severe with directly related to land conflicts, however, the indigenous prisoners and usually gives crime rate registered among indigenous peo- them the maximum penalty. ples is much higher in those communities The minimum legal age to engage in sexual which are close to the state capital, including activity, in Brazil, is 14 years (Article 217-A of the Criminal Code, and Law no 12.015/2009, article 3). Article 217-A defines as “rape of a vulnerable minor” the act of “carnal conjunc- 20. Id. tion or the practice of a lewd act with a child 21. ABA/ESMPU, 2009, p. 22.

119 Stephen G. Baines

... 120 communities on small areas of reduced indig- Since the beginning of the survey, con- enous lands surrounded by ranches, whose ducted in January 2008, I observed the diffi- inhabitants are suffering from exacerbated culty that most state agents have to identify interethnic conflicts, and especially among indigenous prisoners. On the first day of my the indigenous population living in Boa Vista. visits to the Agricultural Prison of Monte Despite the fact that drug trafficking appears Cristo, my access to the prison was not to be one of the most common crimes among allowed because two prisoners had been detainees in the prison system of Roraima, found hanged in a cell, and it was suggested including indigenous prisoners accused of this that I return the following day. That same crime, the indigenous prisoners interviewed day, an employee of the prison administration who were arrested for this crime live in Boa provided information from data in the records Vista and in towns near the international bor- in which 31 prisoners were registered as ders, being a minute percentage of the total being “indigenous” of a total of 838, includ- indigenous population of the State of Roraima. ing those in closed and semi-open regimes, and pretrial detention. The Research Survey The then head of the Internal Security Ser- vice (Serviço de vigilância interna: SVI) of The research survey was conducted in prisons the prison, a military police agent said there through interviews. In the Agricultural Prison was no data about the origin of many detain- of Monte Cristo I was allowed to carry out ees in the prison records, and that “only talk- group and individual interviews in the library ing to them personally” could I find out which and church inside the prison. In the Public Jail prisoners identified as “indigenous”. A news- officials designated a space in the adminis- paper reported the following day that this was tration buildings to conduct individual inter- the third time in less than a year that escaped views. In the Women’s Prison, I conducted prisoners who had been recaptured had been group and individual interviews in the admin- found hanged in pairs. On 26/11/2008, articles istration office in the presence of prison staff, published in newspapers Boa Vista reported and in a communal space designated by the that, through a Federal Police operation, 15 guards inside the prison without their pres- people had been arrested suspected of being ence. In the Professor Aracelis Souto Maior part of a gang which operated in the prison Pension for detainees in semi-liberty I was system of Roraima, including murder, invol- given free access to talk to the residents. At vement with organized crime and drug traf- the Socio-Educational Center Homero Cruz ficking. Among those arrested were the former de Sousa Filho for juvenile detainees, I was director of the Department of Prison System, only allowed to undertake a few rapid inter- a civil police officer, five prison officers, a views in the presence of the director. In the retired military police officer responsible for prison environment, access to prisoners was the internal security of the prison, and pri- only possible through interviews conducted in soners serving sentences in the Agricultural short periods of a few hours during each visit. Prison of Monte Cristo.

120 Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil

... On January 30th 2009, an article in a local indigenous mother or father. When asked who 121 newspaper announced that: had an indigenous father or mother, or who [25 more prisoners would be arrested] considered themselves to be “caboclos”, the accused of having killed and tortured number of interviewees increased rapidly. Some detainees in prisons of the state. The preferred not to talk, while others allowed their prisoners had been killed and had their testimonies to be recorded. bodies hung on ropes to simulate In collective interviews, some commented suicide. 22 their situation, with statements such as: Two days earlier 9 detainees had been I was treated the same way as the other arrested, making up 34 arrest warrants. The prisoners. same report states: The prosecutor said I was not Indian, because I knew how to sign my name. To date, 11 deaths in prisons are being I do not have a lawyer [...], the FUNAI investigated, 7 have been confirmed as does not provide a lawyer. One year and homicides, rather than as suicides as had nine months inside! been simulated. 23 Here, you have no right to anything. I’ve been here one year and four months Testimonies of Indigenous Prisoners and I have never received a visit from and Prison Agents a relative. You never know when you will go for Testimonies of prisoners reveal that the Info- trial, waiting for trial. Pen statistics which result from surveys con- We cannot get out of here. We don’t ducted in the prison files of Roraima do not have money to pay a lawyer. represent the real number of indigenous peo- It is all about money. Those who have ple in prison. money pay a lawyer, but we cannot. We are dumped here without knowing how In January 2008, only 1 detainee among long we shall spend inside. 176 was registered as “indigenous” in the Here in jail everything is bought. We Public Jail. When the prison officers of this don’t have money. unit were asked to verify how many people We don’t know anything about the self-identified as “indigenous” or “caboco”, progress of our case. We cannot get any reply about anything. 13 people presented their names on the first We are stuck here without work and list. Examining photos of prisoners in the without perspective [...], our criminal Public Jail of Boa Vista, an indigenous prison processes don’t get dealt with. officer confirmed that several other detainees were indigenous, one being the son of a vil- What characterizes the declarations of many lage leader, and another son of an indigenous indigenous prisoners is the lack of access to woman. Others were from municipalities where a large percentage of the population is indigenous such as Normândia and Bonfim. Yet 22. Folha de Boa Vista, 30/01/2009. others, born in the city of Boa Vista, had an 23. Id.

121 Stephen G. Baines

... 122 money and lack of support from relatives, [...] and came to live in Boa Vista when especially for those who live in villages far 4 years old. from Boa Vista due to the difficulty of rela- Another young woman claimed to be the tives reaching the state capital. Others said daughter of indigenous parents from Roraima they had been abandoned by their families. and Amazonas State, but affirmed that she did Jonildo Viana dos Santos affirms that: not know the ethnic groups of her parents. There are detainees who have no source However, prison staff did not question her of income, because they have been indigenous identity since she had a popular abandoned by their families or partners. Brazilian indigenous name, little formal edu- They offer their services to wash the cation and phenotypic characteristics associ- clothes of those prisoners who can pay ated with the popular stereotype of indigenous [2004: 48]. peoples, different from another young fair- Testimonies of the prisoners themselves skinned woman with a high school degree, reveal that the majority are in a much more only recognizable as being indigenous from vulnerable situation than most non-indigenous her verbal self-identification. One year later, prisoners who have relatives in Boa Vista, the latter reaffirmed the difficulty she faced to and some who do have relatives in Boa Vista be recognized as indigenous in prison, and live in extreme poverty. There are a few that only those prisoners who speak Portu- exceptions, like a young woman who had guese with difficulty and have little schooling are seen as being authentically indigenous, been sentenced to twenty years imprisonment giving the example of a Guyanese woman in closed regime, who said her relatives had who only knew a few words of Portuguese. hired a private defense lawyer. At the Public Jail of Boa Vista, an indige- Many indigenous prisoners complained that nous prison officer identified several indige- non-indigenous prisoners accused of far worse nous detainees from the prison records whom crimes than them and whose families hired a she knew personally, even though many were private lawyer, get out of prison very quickly, not registered as “indigenous”, but as “brown- whereas indigenous prisoners spend months skinned”. At the time, many prisoners were and even years awaiting trial, often without classified as “brown-skinned”, born in indige- understanding the reason for their detention. nous communities and/or who identified them- In January 2008, in the Women’s Prison of selves as close relatives of indigenous people. Monte Cristo, one woman said that her indig- Many of those who presented themselves as enous identity was questioned by prison staff, “indigenous” were not registered as such in and insisted that her mother’s family was the prison records, such as two brothers of the from the Surumu indigenous village, and her same mother and father who were classified, paternal grandparents were from Ceará State: one as “indigenous” and the other as “brown- They said that I’m not Indian because of skinned”. To facilitate the identification of my skin colour. I was born in Surumu prisoners who might identify as “indigenous”

122 Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil

... I asked to speak to those who identified them- Another prisoner who identified as “indig- 123 selves as “caboclos”, “descendants of Indians” enous” retorted: or who had “indigenous relatives”, taking into They take more care of the “civilized consideration that there are different ways of people” who have money [...] They say identifying as “indigenous” which frequently “he has no money, he does not know, reflect the contradictions imposed by hege- because he’s a caboco” [...] I can’t get monic discourses of the national society. out of here because I have no one. I have been forgotten [...] My brothers At the Professor Aracelis Souto Maior turned against me. They are angry with Pension, among the then 94 inmates in open me and don’t want to see me. regime, only 3 were registered as “indigenous”. However, 90 were classified as “brown- Abandonment by family was frequently skinned”. In this prison unit I interviewed a reported. 25 man who presented himself as “indigenous” A young man born in Malacacheta vil- and asked me to register in my notebook his lage near Boa Vista, who had left the village “indigenous name”, saying that he was born when 9 years of age after the death of his par- in “an indigenous village” of a non-indigenous ents, declared that he was Wapishanawas and father from Sergipe State and a Macushi had been in prison for over a year and had not mother and had been raised in the city. He been tried. He had been arrested for indecent then questioned his own identity, affirming assault and had no defense lawyer in the two that he was caboclo and mestizo and not hearings that had occurred: indigenous because he lived in the city, add- I was arrested in a plot in Cantá muni- ing that he could be considered indigenous cipality. I was living with my partner, through his mother. stepson and stepdaughter. My woman is now living with another laborer. I’m The testimonies of indigenous prisoners going to sell the lot and divide the shed light on the enormous injustices they money. I don’t want to live there any- face and lack of information about their dif- more. She’s Wapishana. ferentiated rights. In the Agricultural Prison of Monte Cristo, a middle-aged man who said He added that, when arrested, the police that his father was Macushi who had been officer asked for money to release him. The indigenous lawyer of the Conselho indígena adopted and raised by ranchers and his 26 mother from Amazonas State, affirmed that de Roraima (CIR), Joênia Wapichana, stres- when he was arrested and charged with sed that one of the difficulties of trying to deploy alternative sentences for indigenous murder:

[He] was not classified as an Indian because [he] did not know how it [the 24. Interview on 22/01/2009. prison system] worked. [His] parents 25. Interview on 22/01/2009. were of very humble class. Only after [he] was sentenced did [he] find out. 24 26. Indigenous Council of Roraima.

123 Stephen G. Baines

... 124 prisoners, especially in the case of murder and differentiated treatment accruing from their sexual crimes, are that many indigenous com- specific rights as indigenous peoples. Both the munities do not accept that the accused return indigenous prison population and the indige- to their communities and victims’ relatives nous youths in the Juvenile Detention Centre often demand that they be encarcerated in are made invisible in the institutional statis- government prisons. tics. The opinion expressed by the majority of the staff is that everyone should be treated Final Considerations equally, independent of being indigenous or non-indigenous, revealing an unawareness of Information gathered in the State of Roraima the constitutional rights of indigenous peoples. reinforces some of the findings in studies con- Several indigenous prisoners raised claims for ducted in other Brazilian states, including the differential treatment such as alternative sen- ABA/ESMPU survey (2008), that there is tences which could be served in indigenous also an ethnic mischaracterization of indi- lands in the case of occurrences within indig- genous persons by functionaries of the law enous lands, with the consent of the com- (police, lawyers, attorneys, judges, the State munities and councils of leaders, and/or a Secretary of Public Security, State Secretary separate wing in prisons. Considering the of Justice and Citizenship, etc.). This results disproportionately asymmetrical structure of in an inaccuracy of official statistics on the interethnic relations that underlies the social, number of indigenous prisoners and their police and penal practices, it is necessary to “legal invisibility” as subjects of differenti- consider the obstacles that indigenous peoples ated rights. There is a multitude of different face to have access to justice and to consider situations which vary from internal problems the possibilities of creating differentiated within indigenous communities in rural areas, institutions with alternative penalties, respect- towns, and in the state capital, incidents in- ing their constitutional rights. volving indigenous and non-indigenous peo- This research project has brought some ple, as well as indigenous people born and changes. Since January 2008, when I began raised outside of indigenous lands. As I have this study, with the collaboration of two post- shown in this article, self-identification as graduate students in Anthropology in July of “indigenous” is frequently ambiguous and that same year, some indigenous prisoners in contradictory, reflecting the ambiguity of Roraima State have begun to demand their Brazilian society towards indigenous peoples, differentiated rights guaranteed by the Consti- and many prisoners only identify as “indige- tution, which have become a subject of debate nous” in certain contexts. in indigenous organizations such as the Orga- The inconsistency of the information in nizaça˜o dos indígenas da cidade 27 (ODIC) in the prison records regarding the indigenous the capital, Boa Vista, the Conselho indígena ethnic profile of the prison population is evident. Almost all indigenous prisoners interviewed denied having received any 27. Organisation of Indigenous People in the City.

124 Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil

... de Roraima (CIR), and the Public Defense in the 1988 Federal Constitution, through 125 Office (Defensoria pública). signing international legislation such as The possibility of creating a separate wing Convention 169 of the International Labor within the prison institutions to house indige- Organization, ratified by Brazil in 2002, and nous detainees has become a proposal of the adopting the United Nations Declaration on Federal Public Ministry in Roraima. In 2014, the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, the the anthropologist Dr. Gustavo Menezes who works in FUNAI also started a survey with gulf between legislation and practice is enor- indigenous prisoners in Roraima, in which I mous and indigenous rights are constantly am participating. These actions characterize disrespected. Nowhere is this clearer than in an engaged anthropology. the prison system where racist stereotypes Although advances have been made in prevail and indigenous rights continue to be recognizing differentiated indigenous rights ignored.

Bibliography

Baines, Stephen G. — 2006, “Entre dois estados Goffman, Erving — 1974, Asylums. Essays on the nacionais. Perspectivas indígenas a respeito da fron- Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other teira entre Guiana e Brasil”, Anuário antropológico Inmates. Garden City (New York), Anchor Books. 2005: 35-49. — 2009, “Esperando para ser julgado. Melatti, Julio Cezar — 1984, “A antropologia no Indígenas no sistema penitenciário de Boa Vista em Brasil. Um roteiro”, Boletim informativo e Biblio- Roraima”, in M.I. Smiljanic, J. Pimenta and S.G. gráfico de ciências sociais 17: 3-52. Baines eds., Faces da indianidade. Curitiba, Nexo de Oliveira Filho, Joaõ Pacheco — 1999, “Entrando Design: 169-186. e saindo da ‘mistura’. Os Índios nos censos nacio- Cardoso de Oliveira, Roberto — 1996, O Índio e o nais”, in J.P. de Oliveira ed., Ensaios em antropo- mundo dos brancos. Campinas Saõ Paulo, Editora da logia histórica. Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ: 124-151. UNICAMP, 4ª ediçao. ˜ Quijano, Anibal — 2000, “Coloniality of Power, Farage, Nádia — 1991, As Muralhas dos serto˜es. Os Eurocentrism, and Latin America”, Nepentla. Views povos indígenas no rio Branco e a colonizaçaõ. Rio From the South 1 (3): 533-580. de Janeiro, Paz e Terra/Anpocs. Rivière, Peter — 1995, Absent-minded Imperialism. Foucault, Michel — 1979, Discipline and Punish. Britain and the Expansion of Empire in Nineteenth- The Birth of the Prison. New York, Vintage Books. century Brazil. London/New York, Tauris Academic Garzón, Biviany Rojas and Raul Silva Telles do Studies. Valle — 2006, “Brasil e Colômbia. Resultados dife- Santilli, Paulo — 1994, Fronteiras da república. rentes para realidades semelhantes”, in B. Ricardo História e política entre os Macuxi no vale do Rio and F. Ricardo eds., Povos indígenas no Brasil: Branco.Saõ Paulo, NHII-USP, FAPESP. — 2001, 2001-2005.Saõ Paulo, Instituto socioambiental: 85. Pemongon Patá. Território Macuxi, rotas de conflito.

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... 126 Saõ Paulo, Editora da UNESP. — 2002, “Trabalho dos Santos, Jonildo Viana — 2004, “Relaço˜es sociais escravo e brancos canibais. Uma narrativa histó- e mecanismos de conflito na Penitenciária Agrícola rica Macuxi”, in B. Albert and A. Ramos eds., de Mote Cristo”. Trabalho monográfico de con- Pacificando o branco. Cosmologias do contato no clusaõ de curso apresentado para o bacharel em Norte-Amazônico.Saõ Paulo, Editora da UNESP: ciências sociais com habilitaçaõ em antropologia, 487-505. Universidade federal de Roraima, Boa Vista.

Abstract Résumé Stephen G. Baines, Disrespecting Indigenous Rights in Stephen G. Baines, Le non-respect des droits des the Prison System of Roraima State, Brazil peuples autochtones dans le système pénitentiaire de This article examines the situation of indigenous peo- l’État du Roraima, Brésil ples in the prison system of Roraima State, in northern Cet article s’intéresse au sort des peuples autochtones Brazil near the Venezuela-Guyana border. Since early dans le système pénitentiaire de l’État du Roraima, au colonisation of this region in the late 18th century, nord du Brésil, près de la frontière entre le Venezuela indigenous peoples were seen as a threat to the colonis- et la Guyane. Depuis le début de la colonisation de cette ing process and incarcerated in settlements for forced région à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, les populations autoch- labor as slaves. Despite the 1988 Brazilian Federal tones ont été perçues comme une menace au processus Constitution which recognizes differentiated indigenous colonisateur et ont été incarcérées dans des établis- rights, they are systematically disrespected in the prison sements pour travailler comme esclaves. Malgré la system. I discuss here how the common idea that Constitution fédérale de 1988 qui reconnaît aux peuples “everyone is equal before the Law” is in conflict with autochtones des droits différenciés, ces droits sont ideas about indigeneity and indigenous rights and para- systématiquement bafoués dans le système pénitentiaire. doxally leads to various forms of injustice suffered by Je montre ici comment l’idée commune selon laquelle indigenous peoples. « tous les hommes sont égaux devant la loi » contredit les idées d’autochtonie et de droits des autochtones et Keywords donne paradoxalement lieu à des formes d’injustice qui Roraima State, Brazil, indigenous peoples, prison sys- touchent les autochtones. tem, indigenous rights Mots clés État du Roraima, Brésil, peuples autochtones, système pénitentiaire, droits des autochtones

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