Juiz de Fora Justice accumulates more than 3 thousand criminal cases Created to ensure that the fulfillment of the sentence goes beyond punishment and also enables the resocialization of those convicted, the Penal Execution Law (LEP) completed, this month, 42 years amidst the challenges of the Brazilian prison system. In Juiz de Fora, one of the main problems is the slowness of justice: 3,487 criminal cases are awaiting judgment, and the average time between the beginning of the action and the final decision exceeds four years, according to data from the National Council of Justice (CNJ). ? Click here to follow the g1 Zona da Mata channel on WhatsApp Of this total, 1,217 have not registered movement for more than four months. ? The Criminal Execution Law (LEP) defines the rules for serving sentences in Brazil. Created in 1984, it establishes the rights and duties of prisoners and seeks to ensure that punishment also enables resocialization and return to society. According to specialist Renata Valadão, state coordinator of Criminal Execution and Collective Protection of the prison system, the slowness compromises both the rights of the accused and the objective of the Criminal Execution Law itself, which establishes the need to offer conditions for the social reintegration of prisoners. "The process has to be developed in a timely manner, so that the rights of the accused can be guaranteed in our system. [...] We have, in fact, this bottleneck that is already structural, a historical problem, not only in Brazil, but in other countries", he stated. Prisoners await treatment and definition of the future Juiz de Fora prison system, file photo TV Integration/Reproduction The system's delay also appears in the reports of families who live with years of waiting and face difficulties in prison units. One of the cases is that of a 35-year-old man, drug addict, who has been imprisoned for three years at the José Edson Cavalieri Penitentiary, in Juiz de Fora. The unit is destined for a semi-open regime, but, according to the family, it remains in a more restrictive situation. The detainee's mother, who preferred not to be identified, told TV Integração that her son should have received treatment in a hospital unit, but ended up in prison. "My son paid his sentence in the prison system, but he was supposed to stay in a hospital. As there was no place in the hospital, he was trapped in the prison system", he reported. According to her, her son also faces difficulties in receiving specialized medical care. "Today, my son has been waiting for 90 days for a psychiatrist to do a report and assess how he is doing, whether he is fit to return to society. I don't know what to do, because I go one way, I go the other, and no one gives me an answer", he added. Law provides for resocialization, but structure is a challenge The Criminal Execution Law determines that the Brazilian prison system must seek not only to serve the sentence, but also to create conditions for the individual to return to society. For experts, however, problems such as procedural delays, lack of structure and lack of adequate monitoring make achieving this objective difficult. Another point of concern involves recent changes to regimen progression rules. The assessment is that new requirements could increase the prison population without there being sufficient structure to meet this demand. "We will, in fact, have an increase in the number of people imprisoned without the public authorities having prepared for this change. There was no impact study on what this will have on the prison system. There was no budget allocation that should have been made", stated Criminal Law professor Alexandre Freitas. ? The Anti-Crime Package (Law 13,964/2019) increased the maximum prison time in Brazil from 30 to 40 years, raised the criteria for regime progression and extended the time required for those convicted of heinous or violent crimes. READ ALSO: Sewing the future: Inmate transforms learning acquired in prison into his own clothing Ex-inmate completes studies in prison and is now studying medicine: 'A new way of seeing life' MP files complaint about 'punishment room' in Juiz de Fora prison Failures favor factional dominance In addition to problems related to processes and the execution of sentences, experts warn of the advancement of criminal factions within prison units. “It is a problem that we have been debating: this dominance of criminal factions in prison establishments, because, where the State fails and there is an absence of power, another power becomes present”, explained lawyer Maria Eduarda Vizzani. For the lawyer, the prison environment can change a person. "There is a widely used expression that says that the prison has become the faculty of crime. I would say that, today, it is the post-doctorate of crime. Because, when you live there with people inserted in a context of crime and criminal organization, you become what you live with", he concluded. What does TJMG say? The production of TV Integração sought out the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais (TJMG) to comment on the number of pending cases and the delay in trials, but did not receive a response until the last update of this report. VIDEOS: see everything about Zona da Mata and Campos das Vertentes