Rio Warned Police About High-Risk Holiday Releases as About 269 Inmates Fail to Return

Overview

• Judges granted Christmas Visita Periódica ao Lar to 1,868 prisoners, and roughly 14% did not meet the Dec. 30 deadline to reenter custody.
• Seap reports 150 of the non-returnees are linked to the Comando Vermelho, with the remainder split among Terceiro Comando Puro, Amigos dos Amigos and detainees without faction ties.
• Seap identified five high-risk fugitives who left and did not come back: Tiago Vinicius Vieira (Dourado), André Luiz de Almeida (Nestor do Tuiuti), Márcio Aurélio Martinez Martelo (Bolado), Sérgio Luiz Rodrigues Ferreira (Salgueiro or Problema) and Fábio Lima (Gordo).
• Officials say Seap alerted the Public Prosecutor’s Office and Civil and Military Police before the releases, but the warning did not prevent departures or enable active tracking absent judicial orders.
• Civil Police chief Felipe Curi criticized lenient laws and said recapture will burden forces, while the Public Defender’s Office defended individualized judicial review; Seap noted that all 21 police officers and 23 militiamen on leave returned.