A document prepared by the Study Nucleus on Violence and the Teotonia Vilela Commission shows the dramatic situation of prisoners and the breakdown of the Brazilian prison structure. Two major complaints of prisoners are the lack of juridical assistance. Without conditions to hire lawyers, prisoners depend on the professional services of lawyers contracted by the State. The State plans to hire up to 170 lawyers, a number that is not sufficient to attend the demand. The other major complaint is the state of health of the prisoners.
Medical treatment is precarious.
There is a lack of doctors, lack of ambulances to transfer the sick to specialized hospitals. In the State of Sao Paulo, there are 43 penal institutions, the largest of which is the Casa de Detencao in Sao Paulo City, with a population of 7,000. The Anti-Slavery International, based in London, denounced to the United Nations the existence of work slaves in Brazil. It showed how this type of slavery exists among the charcoal workers in the state of Minas Gerais. Whole families are involved in this work of making charcoal.