SAO PAULO (OSV News) — Brazilian families of prisoners spend an estimated $840 million a year to provide basic necessities such as food, hygiene supplies, clothing and medicine for incarcerated relatives, according to a new study commissioned by the Catholic bishops’ prison pastoral ministry. 

The Aug. 26 report, “Punishment Without a Sentence,” surveyed 2,706 relatives of inmates across Brazil and found that women, especially wives and mothers, shoulder most of the financial and emotional burden. Many are Black, poor and spend a significant portion of their income supporting loved ones behind bars.

Assessoria Popular Maria Felipa conducted the survey. The nongovernmental organization offers legal assistance that focuses on helping women navigate the legal system.

The idea came up after German-born Sister Petra Pfaller, who heads the prison pastoral ministry, handed Pope Leo XIV a report in April on restrictions imposed by the Brazilian penal system on pastoral agents seeking to visit penitentiaries.

Suffering faced by prisoners’ relatives

“A thought kept lingering in my head: If it’s so difficult for us to get into the prisons, one can only imagine the suffering that prisoners’ relatives face,” Sister Petra told OSV News.

She said that, over so many years of working with inmates, she noticed that their families are voiceless. Their rights are continually disrespected, they are humiliated, and they have no way to complain about anything.

“They’re invisible. That’s why I wanted to have objective figures showing the challenges they face,” Sister Petra said.

The $840 million annual spending is spent on basic necessities to keep prisoners minimally supported in the penal system, Sister Petra added. Relatives are responsible for supplying prisoners with some of the food they eat, basic hygiene items such as soap and toilet paper, clothes and medicines.

The Brazilian state spent a little over $4 billion on its penal system in 2024, but $2.77 billion of that amount went toward employee costs. Spending on other items amounted to $1.27 billion — a figure close to the amount spent by prisoners’ families.

Money spent on inmates a ‘heavy burden’ for relatives

“Families spend too much money on Brazilian inmates, and that is too heavy a burden for them,” lawyer Isabela Corby told OSV News. One of the researchers in charge of the survey, she also is one of the founders of Maria Felipa legal assistance.

That money could be used for education or housing, Corby added, emphasizing that the large majority of inmates’ families are poor.

“Prison impoverishes those who are already poor,” she said.

The research showed that more than 30% of the women who visit their relatives every week spend about $205 — the minimum monthly wage in Brazil is $316 — and 57% of the interviewees said they spend more than $39 on each visit.

“What happens is real economic violence,” said Miriam Duarte Pereira, the mother of two former inmates and founder of the Association of Friends and Relatives of Inmates, a nongovernmental organization known by the Portuguese acronym AMPARAR, which means “to support.”

‘As they run out of money, they begin to take fewer things’

“At the beginning, the women make every effort to visit once a week and take a complete basket with them. But, as they run out of money, they begin to take fewer things, they begin to borrow money, and the problems escalate,” she said.

Indebted, the women sell their possessions and try to get another job, but many of them eventually have to reduce the frequency of their visits and the amount of items they send to their relatives.

“But that basket is a true symbol of their love for their imprisoned relative. Failing to send it is equivalent to failing to take care of the inmate. It’s very painful for them,” Pereira said.

Depression and other psychological problems abound among these women, she said. The prison pastoral ministry’s study showed that almost 90% of respondents reported that their relatives’ detention had caused them physical or psychological harm.

One of Pereira’s sons was first detained in 1998 at a juvenile correctional facility. A few years later, another son was imprisoned. In 2004, she decided to create AMPARAR as a way of empowering prisoners’ relatives in their dealings with the indifference of authorities and with one another.

‘Women face all these challenges alone’

“The women face all these challenges alone. Men — whether the prisoner’s father or another male relative — tend to be judgmental and don’t want anything to do with the inmate,” she said.

Having a safe space to gather and talk to each other is therapeutic for many women, she said. 

Humiliation and violence are also part of the relatives’ plight. Almost 60% of respondents reported suffering some kind of disrespect or verbal abuse during visits.

The authors of the study now hope to pressure authorities to make significant changes to the system. For Sister Petra, a fundamental goal is also to engage more Catholics in the struggle for the rights of inmates and their families.

“Most parishes are not open to that reality nowadays. A former inmate would not be accepted as an employee in many parishes all over the country,” she said.

If parishes and prayer groups “took on that challenge, the situation of the families of detainees in Brazil would be totally transformed,” she concluded.

Eduardo Campos Lima writes for OSV News from Sao Paulo.