An open passage inside one of the bathrooms at the Bangu prison complex, in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, exposed a clandestine connection between the wings of the prison unit. Power Agenda Investigations revealed that inmates had dug a hole to facilitate sexual encounters with women in bathrooms used during conjugal visits.
A video obtained by the news outlet shows prison officers recording the discovery. In the images, it is possible to see a rectangular opening in the bathroom structure, similar to a small door, constructed in an improvised manner with wooden planks. see below:
What did Seppen say?
Contacted by reporters, the State Secretariat of Penitentiary Police (Seppen) clarified to Power Agenda that the passageway was created between bathrooms used during conjugal visits at the Benjamim de Moraes Filho Penal Institute, an exclusively male unit of the Bangu Penitentiary Complex.
In other words, women were using the space designated for intimate visits, and the prisoners allegedly created a clandestine passage to access this area during visiting hours.
According to the department, the opening between the men's and women's restrooms was identified during an inspection of the facility. Following the discovery, an order was given to close the passage and to dismantle the alterations made to the site.
Isolated prisoners
Seppen also reported that the visitor's pass was suspended and the identified prisoners were isolated. The General Inspectorate of the department has opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the case.
"It is worth reiterating that the Benjamim de Moraes Filho Penal Institute is exclusively for men (it does not have a women's wing), and the bathrooms mentioned are used during visits," the department said in a statement.
According to the department, the unit's director had already been dismissed from his position a week before the discovery of the slip.
Bangu prison once had an 'annex' for conjugal visits.
In 2021, a similar complaint was registered at the Jorge Santana Public Prison, located within the Bangu complex in the West Zone. At the time, the then-Secretary of Penitentiary Administration (Seap) reported that it had halted the illegal construction of an extension to the unit.
According to a report broadcast at the time by RJTV, a TV Globo affiliate, the space was being built to allow conjugal visits for pretrial detainees. Officials from the department denounced that the construction was taking place without a bidding process and had been carried out after bribes were paid to the unit's administration. The site was demolished after the case came to light.
*Intern under the supervision of Thiago Antunes
Leave a comment