The state secretary of Penitentiary Administration, Helton Edi Xavier, confirmed this Monday (6) that he had met with a prisoner identified as one of the main leaders of a criminal faction operating in Rio Grande do Norte. In an interview with a radio station in Natal, the secretary said that the meeting took place in January last year at the Federal Police headquarters with José Kemps Pereira de Araújo, better known as Alicate.
At the time, on January 14, 2023, Kemps had been recaptured in the city of Goiana, Pernambuco, after more than six months on the run. After the conversation with the secretary, the prisoner was transferred to the Alcaçuz State Penitentiary, where he remained until March. In March, Alicate was transferred to a federal prison, after the start of criminal attacks in RN.
The secretary stated that he decided to hold the meeting with the prisoner because there was a fear among civil servants about the return of leadership to the prison system.
Helton Edi Xavier stated that he met with Alicate after being warned by the intelligence department of the Penitentiary Administration Secretariat that the prisoner was “dangerous”. The secretary said that, given this information, he decided to meet the inmate to warn him about the rules of the Rio Grande do Sul prison system.
In a note sent to TRIBUNA DO NORTE, the secretary states that given the relevance of the prison with the participation of several Security Forces, he went to the place of custody, and told the detainee that in the state system he would not receive different treatment.
“That if he had a leadership role, he would have it on the street, and that in the Penitentiary System he would be treated as a prisoner and that he would serve his sentence”, says the note.
During a radio interview, the secretary even stated that it was his duty to have spoken to Alicate. “I think it was my obligation to do this, because people from the system themselves were concerned about this citizen returning to the system. I didn’t go to introduce myself. I went to tell him that he had to respect all the rules inside the chair. He is not a special prisoner,” he said.
The meeting between the secretary and the prisoner came to light after the president of the Criminal Police Union, Vilma Batista, revealed the meeting and publicly asked Helton Edi Xavier for explanations.
Vilma Batista refuted the Penitentiary Administration secretary’s statement about there being signs of negligence that may have contributed to the escape of inmates from the Rogério Coutinho Madruga State Penitentiary, in Nísia Floresta, on April 30. For the category representative, it was the portfolio holder who acted negligently.
“We want to know what meeting the Secretary of Penitentiary Administration had at the Federal Police headquarters with the leader of the crime syndicate. What deal was that? What conversation was that? The secretary is the one who has to respond”, stated Vilma.
