Panic Views: Brazilian Prisons

Brazilian prisons are notorious for their overcrowding, corruption, voilence and torture. For many years Human Rights groups have cited overcrowding as being the cause of many of the brutal riots in Brazillian prisons and report that it has now reached 'inhuman levels'.

Medical care for detainees, including those with terminal illness or severe disability, is generally inadequate or non-existent. HIV is reported to effect as many as 1 in ever 7 prisoners, with many more being infected with other sexually transmitted and/or bad hygene related diseases.

Prisoners have complained of being routinely beaten and subjected to methods of torture including the "parrot's perch" (suspension by the legs and arms from a metal bar), near- asphyxiation and electric shocks.

Let's take a look inside a Brazilian prison. It looks even worse than Sona in "Prison Break" series.