Every year, scores of deaths occur as a result of violence by police and prison officers, denial of medical care, and negligence by the authorities in preventing violence between detainees. The vast majority of deaths in custody go uninvestigated and undocumented. Beatings and intimidation are also used in prisons and police stations to control an ever-growing number of detainees. Weekly riots and violent incidents suggest that the authorities are losing control of many prisons and police lock-ups. Cells in many prisons and police stations in Brazil are overcrowded and vermin-ridden, with little or no space for exercise.
Sanitary facilities are poor and constitute a health risk.
According to a Brazilian government official, 'the prisons are purgatory, but the police stations are hell'. Humiliation and torture are part of everyday life. For instance, detainees in civil police precincts in Belo Horizonte are regularly herded naked into a courtyard while their cells are searched. They are then hosed down with water by police officers standing on the roof. A special room is set aside for torturing prisoners.