Prison System: Mato Grosso court carries out Criminal Execution Task Force

The Second Criminal Court of the Capital, responsible for Criminal Executions, and the Prison and Socio-Educational System Monitoring and Inspection Group (GMF-MT) will hold, on the 11th and 12th of April, at the Nova Chance Foundation (Funac), the “ Mutirão da Execução Penal Vulnerabilidades em Foco”, dedicated to assisting homeless people leaving the prison system and workers linked to Funac.

During the hearings held at the joint effort, the processes and precautionary measures that impose electronic monitoring of those recovering will be reviewed, as provided for in Resolution No. 412/2021, of the National Council of Justice (CNJ). In the case of homeless people, voluntary referral to public social protection programs and services will be offered. Furthermore, thanks to a partnership with the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), extension courses will be offered to those recovering.

The project, which is led by the judge of the Criminal Executions Court of Cuiabá and coordinator of the GMF-MT, Geraldo Fernandes Fidelis Neto, is in line with the National Judicial Policy for Attention to Homeless People and its intersectionalities, as it takes into account consideration of the barriers that this portion of the population faces in the process of social reintegration, such as difficulty accessing the justice system, racism, stigma, low education and professional qualifications and precarious and/or non-existent access to services and public policies.

The initiative is in partnership with the Deputy Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration (SAAP), through the Superintendency of Penitentiary Policies; the Public Defender’s Office of Mato Grosso (DPEMT); the State Public Ministry (MPE); the Nova Chance Foundation; the Community Councils of Cuiabá and Várzea Grande; the Mais Liberdade Association; the Pop Rua Movement; the RAESP Social Responsibility Cooperative; from the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) and the National Council of Justice (CNJ).

Actions of the Judiciary

Also within the National Judicial Policy for Attention to Homeless People, the Judiciary of Mato Grosso has already promoted other actions aimed at this public, such as participation in the Mutirão Pop Rua Jud, held in December last year, when judge Geraldo Fidelis held traveling audiences at the Palácio da Instrução, in the center of Cuiabá. Also in December 2023, the TJMT held a seminar that brought together magistrates, public defenders, military police, Army soldiers, social workers and homeless people to debate the rights of this hyper-vulnerable population.

In August last year, around 40 judges were trained by the Escola Superior da Magistratura (Esmagis-MT) on the reality experienced by those who do not have a roof over their heads, during the II Umanizzare Meeting – Justice and Alterity, where the professor Doctor Juliano Batista dos Santos presented his research based on the period he lived with homeless people and felt invisibility and social exclusion firsthand.