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Brazilian Justice Minister: Our Jails Are Worse Than Death

FOLHA DE S.PAULO, O ESTADO DE S. PAULO (Brazil)

Worldcrunch

SÃO PAULO - Brazilian Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo has sparked controversy by describing the nation's prison system as “medieval” and declaring that he would prefer to die rather than pass a long period in Brazilian jails.

Brazil's Fohla de S. Paulo daily reported the statement, which was made at an event this week in São Paulo, one day after the Supreme Court sentenced a former senior presidential official José Dirceu to 10 years in prison on corruption charges.

Cardozo's comments came in response to a question about re-introducing the death penalty in Brazil. “If I was to stay many years in some of our prisons, I’d rather die”, he said.

The minister added that the Brazilian penal system does not succeed in rehabilitating criminals. “Those who get there as first-time petty criminals often leave as members of large criminal organizations,” he said.

Data from the Ministry of Justice shows that last year there were 471,000 people in Brazilian prisons for just 295,000 places. According to specialists, one of the main reasons is the high number of temporary prisoners waiting for trial. About 37% of the total amount face such conditions.

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The Weight Of Trump's Indictment Will Test The Strength Of American Democracy

The U.S. legal system cannot simply run its course in a vacuum. Presidential politics, and democracy itself, are at stake in the coming weeks and months.

The Weight Of Trump's Indictment Will Test The Strength Of American Democracy

File photo of former U.S. President Donald Trump in Clyde, Ohio, in 2020.

Emma Shortis*

-Analysis-

Events often seem inevitable in hindsight. The indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump on criminal charges has been a possibility since the start of his presidency – arguably, since close to the beginning of his career in New York real estate.

But until now, the potential consequences of such a cataclysmic development in American politics have been purely theoretical.

Today, after much build-up in the media, The New York Times reported that a Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict Trump and the Manhattan district attorney will now likely attempt to negotiate Trump’s surrender.

The indictment stems from a criminal investigation by the district attorney’s office into “hush money” payments made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels (through Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen), and whether they contravened electoral laws.

Trump also faces a swathe of other criminal investigations and civil suits, some of which may also result in state or federal charges. As he pursues another run for the presidency, Trump could simultaneously be dealing with multiple criminal cases and all the court appearances and frenzied media attention that will come with that.

These investigations and possible charges won’t prevent Trump from running or even serving as president again (though, as with everything in the U.S. legal system, it’s complicated).

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