Friday, January 29th – Government run Prison

We performed for half the prison at the same time, about 400 men. They were so grateful and eager to participate in everything. I love to see them laugh, it makes everything we go through worth it. The prisons here are run very differently then other countries. Brazil has the 4th largest prison population in the world with most prisons being at double the capacity they were built for. The conditions are outrageous and violate human rights.  I met a man named Marcos who had been shot in the spinal cord and was paralyzed  Imagine not only living in hell, but being in a wheel chair there as well.  Another older man I talked to was in tears as he told me he had been in for 7 years and had no idea how much longer he would be there since he has never seen a judge or received a sentence.  After our performance the leader of the patio gave us a beautiful hand made ship they had made. It really touched us.