Authorities in Brazil are investigating reports that a young woman
was left in a police cell with some 20 men for a month and repeatedly

sexually abused.

The governor of the state of Para, where the reported case took place, has promised a full inquiry.

Don't hold your breath. This part fills me with a white-hot rage:

They say that she was raped relentlessly and forced to have sex in order to obtain food.

The girl's father has now alleged that he has been

threatened by police who tried to force him to provide a birth

certificate showing that the girl was 20 years of age - a document

which he said did not exist.

What is even more distressing is how horrible the situation with prisons is all over Brazil. As recently as August twenty-five prisoners died in a prison in Minas Gerais from a fire deliberately set by rivals. Whether it's the Carandiru Massacre, or brutality in youth detention centers, Brazil has major, deeply rooted problems in its prison system. Given the fact that under the law, no one serves more than thirty years in jail in Brazil, some serious thought and effort must be given to improving conditions, even if only for the sake of enlightened self-interest.

Cross-posted at Beautiful Horizons.