Hundreds Fail to Return After Brazil’s Holiday Prison Releases as Rio Leads Tally

Overview

• Rio de Janeiro reports 259 non-returns from the Christmas release period, with 150 linked to the Comando Vermelho and five classified as high-danger inmates, according to the state prison authority.
• In Pará, 202 of 2,394 beneficiaries remain at large, with the Belém metro area and the interior both posting lower evasion rates than last year, the Seap said.
• The Distrito Federal logged 19 failures to return out of 1,624 authorizations, while the Grande São Luís region in Maranhão counted 39 fugitives after the deadline.
• Piauí recorded five non-returns among 480 monitored by ankle bracelets, a 98.95% return rate, with authorities noting one death and one new arrest during the period.
• Recent federal and Rio state measures tightened temporary release rules and expanded electronic monitoring, but judges have not applied them retroactively, and the Supreme Federal Court is expected to rule on federal law retroactivity in a session yet to be scheduled.