Private prisons have already been tested in several countries, especially in Great Britain and the United States, but the times are propitious for further experiments. Prison overcrowding and lack of funds (see Pannella's fast in Italy) are endemic problems in many countries.
In Brazil, where prisons are in a pitiful state (Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo has said he would rather die than end up in a Brazilian prison) a PPP (Public Private Partnership) penitentiary is under construction, the Ribeirão das Neves in the state of Minas Gerais. It will have a capacity of over three thousand inmates and will be managed by the Gestores Prisionais Associados (GPA): three hundred civil servants will take care of the criminal and disciplinary part, while eight hundred GPA employees will take care of everything else.
This is not the only innovation in prisoner management being experienced in Brazil. Four penitentiaries are piloting an initiative that allows inmates to reduce their sentence by four days for each book they read. It is to be hoped that the pages will also be taken into account, otherwise no prisoner would read 'War and Peace'.
Rio Times Online
