Brazilian law enforcement authorities are once again under fire after a twelve-year-old girl was held in a police cell near male inmates. A local judge let the girl go free on Monday after she was held for six days for hitting a police officer while being questioned: According to local media reports, the girl went to the police station, in the town of Sidrolandia in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, to try and ensure that her boyfriend did not face any criminal charges.
However, while she was being questioned by the local police chief, he tried to take away her mobile phone, and she is alleged to have hit him in the eye.
The girl was arrested and placed in a police cell alongside others occupied exclusively by male prisoners.
Unfortunately, there have been other instances of underage girls being held in custody either next to or along with adult males in Brazil.
- Local media in Mato Grosso reported last month that a fourteen-year-old girl was kept in a jail cell along with three adult women in the male wing of a state prison.
- Last year, a fifteen-year-old girl in Para state alleged to have been repeatedly raped after being placed in a cell along with thirty-four male inmates. Authorities have so far charged twelve people with negligence.
Sources (English)- BBC News, The Latin Americanist, 570 News
Sources (Portuguese)- JC Online, Mato Grosso Mais
Image- New York Times (“A girl who was abused by inmates at a jail in Brazil was embraced by her stepmother and mother [in November] after being freed.”)
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