Year after year, international organisations have condemned Brazil for the inhuman conditions in its prisons. For the first time. critics now originate from Brazil's own institutions. The President of the Brazilian Supreme Court called the prisons a 'shame' and a 'crime against people'. Half of Brazil's 500,000 prisoners, most of whom incarcerated for low-level drug offences in Brazil's favelas, await judicial process in overcrowded police cells.

This video is part of a video series produced by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) on the human toll of misguided drug laws. Across the region, current laws have led to overwhelmed criminal justice systems, long prison sentences disproportionate to the crimes committed and severe collateral damage to the most vulnerable sectors of society.

Watch the video.