[Rowe] Porto Velho Penitentiary, one of Brazil's most notorious prisons.
[prisoner shouting]
[Rowe] Home to some of the country's most ruthless gang members,
locked in a bloody war.
With nine vicious riots in the last ten years alone...
[dog barking]
...and with only one guard to every 80 inmates,
the prison is under constant threat of the next violent uprising.
What I'm feeling is vulnerable, because these guys are barbaric.
They don't just hurt you. They cut your heart out.
[in Portuguese] The gang fighting will be over only when everyone is eliminated.
[Rowe] My name is Raphael Rowe.
I'm going to be spending a week banged up in this Brazilian prison.
[guard in Portuguese] Cough. Cough hard.
[prisoner coughing]
[Rowe] It's not my first time behind bars.
I was convicted in the UK of a murder I did not commit
and sentenced to life with no parole.
I fought long and hard to clear my name.
I was 19 years old when they put me in prison.
I'm 32 years old now. 12 years of my life lost, gone forever.
Now I'm traveling the globe to discover what life is really like
inside some of the world's toughest prisons.
Rondônia is Brazil's Wild West.
The Amazonian state is the front line in a deadly turf war
between the country's most powerful drug gangs.
Now the police are fighting back,
packing the prisons with rival gang members.
I've come to the state capital, Porto Velho.
I'll be spending a week locked up alongside 8,000 criminals
in one of the country's toughest prisons.
But before I go inside,
I want to get a better understanding of why so many men end up in prison.
I'm joining the military police on a drug-gang purging mission.
These heavily armed police officers are putting me on edge.
They're carrying huge amounts of armory: assault rifles, hand pistols.
And they look like they mean business,
so I suspect that what they're up against is dangerous, ruthless criminals.
[indistinct chatter]
How dangerous is it for your officers to go out and do what you are doing today?
[in Portuguese] The level of risk is very high.
Here in Porto Velho, the civil police have identified some gangs,
some individuals with medium and heavy weaponry.
Squad! Attention, squad!
[Rowe] The unit filters out all over the city
to disrupt gang activity and arrest dealers.
[indistinct chatter over radio]
[engine revving]
[in Portuguese] Stop, son of a bitch! Hey!
Stop! Stop, sucker!
Stop, son of a bitch!
[Rowe] I'm shocked at how young many of them are,
but not half as much as the stash they've been busted for.
Do you think he will go to prison for...
what I perceive to be quite a small amount of cannabis?
[in Portuguese] He will because Brazilian legislation
does not take into account the amount, only the act.
So when we catch them, even if we find a small amount,
because he is dealing,
the penalty is imprisonment from five to ten years.
[Rowe] These teenagers appear to be no more than low-level foot soldiers.
It seems pretty harsh for such a small quantity of drugs.
Um... I'm trying to appreciate the difficulty that they have,
you know, policing the streets, but it just seems so harsh.
With the government's zero tolerance policy to narcotics,
it's no wonder that over 40% of inmates are in prison for drug offenses.
Do you know what's gonna happen to your friend now?
Where he will end up, what prison he will go to, and what it's like there?
[in Portuguese] I know he will go to the prison. It's very bad, hard.
The conditions are terrible in that place.
I've been there many times already.
[Rowe] Those scooped up off the streets are sent to Porto Velho Prison Complex.
Here, small-time criminals live alongside ruthless convicts,
doing hard time for trafficking, rape and murder.
Most of the inmates are members of Brazil's two most prolific gangs,
both of which were formed in prisons:
the Red Command, from Rio de Janeiro,
and the Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, from São Paulo.
Today their brutal criminal network spreads into all corners of Brazil,
with catastrophic results for the country.
[fire crackling]
Now sworn enemies, their battle to control the drug trade
has turned to all-out war.
This conflict is at its most barbaric
within the walls of prisons just like Porto Velho...
[gunfire]
...where the authorities are fighting a losing battle
to contain the threat of deadly riots.
This explosive place is where I'm heading now,
to spend a week behind bars.
I'm going into a prison that has an international reputation
of being one of the most dangerous prisons in the world,
if not the most dangerous prison in the world.
They've had five riots in the last 15 years
where people have lost their lives.
It can't get any worse than that.
It's a terrifying experience.
It's an unnerving experience.
I'm nervous. I'm not scared, not yet.
Until I see what it's about, I'm not scared. But I am nervous.
[Rowe] I've never been in a Brazilian prison before,
let alone one with a reputation as violent as this.
I'm feeling pretty apprehensive.
My first impression is that I'm in some sort of outdoor building complex.
But, actually, I know I'm in a dangerous place
because of the armory these guards have.
[Rowe] The complex is made up of nine separate facilities
holding 8,000 inmates.
My introduction to this vast prison is an intimidating unit called Pandinha.
Here, new prisoners are monitored. In some cases, for over a year.
They're interrogated to assess risk and determine their gang affiliations.
It's a harsh and unforgiving hellhole
where the prisoners are climatized to their new home.
This really does feel like I'm in prison.
I've just come into the belly of the beast.
Fifteen-foot wall, barbed wires,
and it just has that feel about prison that I know all too well.
[Rowe] As the armed police hand me over to the prison authorities,
I know what's coming next.
Why is this necessary?
I'm in a room with two heavily armed guards,
naked with handcuffs on.
What is it that you're looking for?
[in Portuguese] You could have something that you could use against me.
Cough. Cough hard.
Get up.
The one thing that's really... significant,
it's not the search. It's not looking for contraband.
It's your dignity. Already, they have seen your private part.
They know something about you that nobody else does
apart from people that you have an intimate relationship with,
and that gives a prison officer the upper hand.
That's what it's feeling like for me.
As I'm taken to a temporary holding cell, I notice the guards seem on edge.
It's making me very nervous.
-[door locking] -[prisoners clamoring]
The whole process for me so far...
is reminding me of how hard you have to become to survive.
That's my instinct. That's what I'm feeling.
It feels medieval. It feels...
The thing that went through my mind is I felt like a gladiator.
I'm coming in here with just my pants. I'm naked other than that,
and I'm in this environment that makes me feel like
the next time I'm let out,
I'm going to go and do battle with some other prisoner.
[Rowe] The Pandinha reception unit has multiple holding cells.
The deadly risk of mixing gang members
means the authorities are taking no chances.
[in Portuguese] Do you belong to, or are you involved with, any criminal factions?
Why is it important that I answer that question?
[in Portuguese] If the prisoners know you are from a gang,
you will be treated like someone from that gang.
So if you mix with another faction, your life will be at risk.
No, I'm not.
[Rowe] The wrong man in the wrong cell could be fatal.
Against the wall.
I've no idea what the guys in this monitoring cell are in for,
or if they are gang members or not.
[in Portuguese] Go over there so we can take your handcuffs off.
[Rowe] The heat in here is brutal, and it absolutely stinks.
I've been in group cells before, but never anything like this.
[Rowe] Is this the holding cell?
How long have you guys been in this cell? Or this block?
[in Portuguese] Ten days.
[Rowe] Ten days?
[in Portuguese] Ten days. Just the way you see us, that's how it is here.
How do you feel about the fact
that these guys are out there pointing guns at you?
[in Portuguese] Look. Here, look here.
[Rowe] So this is a rubber bullet.
This is a rubber bullet that they fire at you?
[in Portuguese] The toilet was blocked. There was sewage all over the floor.
They fired at us. Everyone was on the floor in the shit.
And are they doing that because you did something wrong?
Or are they doing it to punish you?
Because we were trying to fill the water bottles,
and there was a shouting match. Understand?
So the guards came over. They were shooting at us.
We stayed there quite some time,
until they changed shifts, and we were allowed to get up.
Has anybody been in here before, in this prison before?
I spent nine months in Pavilion A. Nine months. A lot of oppression.
You've been here before. You know the conditions.
How come you are here again?
Weakness. My family needed me.
I was looking for work and didn't find anything.
The only way to look after my family
was to do the only thing I knew how to do: steal.
And how big a problem, for all of you, is the gangs here in this prison?
Yes. It affects everyone's life.
It affects everyone's life that finds themselves stuck in this system.
It's a war, because they just don't care.
If there is a clash
and you're in the wrong place at the wrong time,
you go down, too.
[Rowe] After a tough introduction to this gang-infested prison,
I'm apprehensive about where I'm going next.
I've been assigned to a unit called
Ênio dos Santos Pinheiro, or Ênio for short,
where 620 men live in three residential cell blocks
called pavilions.
After two massacres of Red Command gang members in the last year,
the entire unit now only houses the PCC.
I'm escorted to Pavilion C by guard Pedro.
What do you expect of me as a new prisoner?
When I come into your prison, you're walking me to this new unit,
what are you expecting of me?
[in Portuguese] We usually expect that the prisoners respect other prisoners, right?
Because of this problem with gangs.
There shouldn't be conflicts or any kind of violence.
And that they serve the sentence peacefully.
[Rowe] So, where am I now?
Guys out here playing football. I take it that all these are prisoners?
-[Pedro in English] Yes. -This is their sort of recreational time?
[in Portuguese] They are all now having their recreational time, playing football.
They have two hours in the sun every day.
[prisoner clamoring]
[Pedro] Over here you can get to Pavilion C. You choose a cell.
I choose my own cell?
So I come here, and I pick where I want to stay?
[Pedro] You can go inside and choose. Speak to Danilo.
He's a cool guy, and he can tell you where you can fit in better,
where you can make some friends and choose a cell that suits you.
[prisoners clamoring]
[Rowe] I'm astonished I'm being sent off by myself.
It makes me wonder who's really in charge here,
the guards or the prisoners?
I've come from what is a really disgusting part of the prison
into what seems like a relaxed prison.
Wherever I see football, there is relaxation, because it's a release.
Everybody around me seems a little less tense than in the last place.
-[dog barking] -They've even got dogs here. It's crazy.
[Rowe] Who's Danilo?
-[man] Hey, Danilo. -Danilo!
Danilo!
With inmates wearing shorts and T-shirts,
it's easy to forget I'm surrounded by murderers and hardcore gangsters.
[Rowe] He's in there?
[man] What's up, Danilo?
[Rowe] Danilo?
[Rowe] All are either active members or sympathizers of the PCC gang.
-[Danilo] Come in. -[Rowe] Thank you. Raphael.
[in Portuguese] My pleasure. Don't be scared. Come inside.
[Rowe] Brazil? No, no, no. London.
[Rowe] Danilo shares his cramped cell with nine other men.
Well, let me sit down and have a chat with you about...
[man 1 in Portuguese] Yeah, make yourself at home, brother.
I might not sleep.
[man 1 in Portuguese] Keep calm.
[Rowe] We have the same color. Brazilian.
[in Portuguese] You look Brazilian. You do.
Well, if I am one of you, I need to know how to survive in Pavilion C.
You need humility. Say a bit, BB.
[in Portuguese] Respect for brother's space.
Have respect for brother's space. That is how you will survive.
Of course, I would have respect for fellow prisoners,
because we're all in the same situation.
But it's the unwritten rules that I'm most interested in
as a new prisoner who doesn't understand the way of life in these prisons.
It all depends on you, right?
If you are a guy that helps out, that asks what needs doing around here,
cleans the cell without laziness. Understand?
With this attitude, you will be fine in any place, in any prison.
And what happens if you don't?
What happens to those guys who come in and they try to give the big "I am"?
What happens to those guys?
He will have to pay.
If he wants to be crazy, he will have to pay.
He will have to pay someone to do his cleaning chores,
but someone is going to have to do it, right?
[Rowe] Okay, I know prison.
I know prison. I know how to survive in prison.
I spent 12 years in one cell on my own.
Your offense, the offense you got done for...
Why did you go to prison? Trafficking? Assault?
Murder.
[man 2 in Portuguese] Murder.
So about your crime, did you kill him for money?
How did you kill him? For stealing? With a knife?
[Rowe] Uh, I was accused of being the leader of a gang
who committed big robberies in England, in London,
where someone got killed during the commission of a robbery.
And I got arrested, convicted of murder and robberies.
I was sent to prison, never to be released.
I was supposed to die in prison,
but I wasn't guilty.
And after 12 years in prison, I was found not guilty.
Did you think of killing yourself because of what happened to you?
No. No.
[man 2] He's alive now because he likes living. You suffered a lot, right?
My suffering made me a stronger person.
[Danilo] He's a brother. He's a brother.
-He belongs to the family now for sure. -He's part of the family now.
[Rowe] It's the end of an exhausting first day.
I'm thankful that the inmates, for the moment at least,
seem to have accepted me.
Learning a little bit more about the experiences,
the work that they do, how they get by day by day,
is gonna be important, because it will give me, I think,
a much better understanding of how these guys survive,
to forget their circumstances and their surroundings.
Because, yes, it is a shell shock. It is horrible.
The conditions are horrible. The smells are horrible.
This dangerous prison that is run by gangs,
and I won't forget where I am, could explode at any minute.
The inmates' two hours of recreation is over,
and the first armed guards I've seen so far in this unit
begin their nightly lockdown.
[Rowe] It's the start of my second day in one of Brazil's most dangerous prisons.
Ênio's Pavilion C houses 180 inmates crammed into just 12 decaying cells.
Despite being one of the most decrepit buildings in the entire prison,
the inmates take pride in the little they have.
Time for morning duties, and I'm being shown the ropes by Danilo.
He's serving a five-year sentence for possession of a firearm.
Here is a list of things to clean.
Each will have their day to do the cleaning, the toilet.
You're also responsible for washing dishes.
[Rowe] To earn the respect of my cellmates, I've got to chip in,
all under the watchful eye of convicted drugs trafficker William.
[in Portuguese] Finish here. I'll throw water for you. You keep washing.
One more.
Now go here. Get this cloth.
Well, it really smells in here right now, and it's wet,
and I don't know what's creeping inside my hair and the rest of my body,
but it doesn't feel very nice.
With these guys, they've got to do these sorts of jobs,
you've got to show that you're willing to muck in
and do what everybody else is doing.
Now you are going to throw water on the floor here.
The bucket over there.
[Rowe] This? Clean the floor. Use the water.
[William] When it's closed, the guy is pissing.
-You don't come in. -[chuckles]
So he's just said to me,
"Once you've thrown the bucket of water down that toilet,
you take off your clothes, sit down, and you can have a number two."
If it's like this, look.
[Rowe] I may not have done time in Brazil, but I know prisons.
I seem to be accepted by my cellmates,
but I can't ignore the tensions that exist here.
Fire-scorched walls are a somber reminder of one of the prison's most deadly riots
less than a year ago.
And Danilo has agreed to talk about how close he came to being a victim.
Does that make you scared,
witnessing what you've been witnessing and seeing what you're seeing?
You know you could lose your life at any moment if something kicked off?
Yes, and I was even here during the first one
that took place
nine months ago.
Our cell was broken into from the back,
and, thank God, we managed to get out and survive.
But, unfortunately, the people in the cell in front of ours lost their lives.
Eight people died, burned alive.
The people who died asked them not to break the lock,
because they didn't want to be involved in the riot.
Which was the same position we took in our cell.
So today we are praying for peace. We are for peace.
We'll talk to the guys and say, "No, brothers, no more fighting."
[Rowe] I'm appalled at the senseless loss of life here.
And cleaning around the prison officers' table,
I find it disturbing that there are so few guards
when the risk of riot is so high.
You can't help but feel intimidated
when you see these guys and the weapons that they carry around the prison.
And their weapons always seem poised, like they're ready to shoot someone.
I feel threatened.
I'm increasingly getting the feeling that I'm outstaying my welcome.
Can I have your permission to just clean around your mess area?
[in Portuguese] Go over there. He can't be here.
[guard in Portuguese] At any moment, you could take a weapon from us,
take a colleague hostage, and take over the whole prison.
So we have to be careful who can come in here.
Otherwise, we become too exposed. Understand?
[Rowe] The guards are so wary of me,
it's a disturbing insight into just how unstable this prison actually is.
Is this another cell?
Hey, how you doing?
This is a punishment cell?
[in Portuguese] The Red Command cell.
We're here for our own safety, because we can't go over there.
We're just waiting to be transferred.
So all of you guys are Red Command?
[in Portuguese] Red Command, we command.
So you're here for your own safety and security?
Something happened to me.
Someone tried to kill me.
What did they do to you?
A knife. With a knife. Take a look.
Stabbed my lung. Just this scar.
[Rowe] That's one there?
With a knife? And your face? Let me see.
Show me.
-They cut you? -Yes.
With such a threat of violence,
the Red Command inmates are locked up next to the guards,
as they're marked men by their rivals, the PCC, who control this pavilion.
What is the difference between the Red Command and the PCC?
[in Portuguese] The Red Command and the PCC are two rival gangs
aiming to take over the state of Rondônia. Understand?
They want to take our city from us,
but we are not going to give it to them. Understand?
These animals are a bunch of cowards, these bastards.
Is it possible that another riot could happen in this prison at any time?
This is a pressure cooker.
At any moment, it's going to explode, and then that's it.
It will be every man for himself. We are going to protect ourselves.
If they break out, we are going to stab them.
They'll go back there, back to hell.
[Rowe] This place is even more volatile than I first thought.
The gang violence seems to underpin everything in this prison.
[indistinct chatter]
[Rowe] Inmates in Pavilion C who have earned the trust of guards,
have the privilege of being out of their cells for most of the day.
But, in return, they have to work.
And today, I'm joining them.
My duty this afternoon is to help these guys distribute the external ready meals
that are provided to the prisoners every day.
I'm told it's disgusting, but you know...
looking at it, it's well packaged, it's hot.
But these guys have seen an opportunity to relax on their load
and have me pulling these heavy trays.
You see?
[in Portuguese] He's passed already.
He's passed the test already.
[Rowe] Yeah, I think they like that I'm pulling this stuff along.
[prisoners exclaiming]
Now they're all telling me where to go.
[man 1 in Portuguese] This way.
[indistinct chatter]
Ouch. They're very hot trays. Done?
-[man 2 laughs] -More?
-[man 3 whistles] -How many? How many?
[indistinct chatter]
More?
[in Portuguese] Give 13, 13.
Thirteen.
What's in there? What's inside?
[in Portuguese] Beef.
Rice and...
Beef, second-rate beef. Chayote, potato and corn. Cooked.
Is it nice?
[in Portuguese] Terrible. It's always awful.
The worst. It's very bad.
Just like this.
No one who could make me eat it.
[Rowe] You don't take the food?
You don't take... You don't take the food?
[in Portuguese] Only if your eyes were closed.
[Rowe] Oh, you can buy food and have it delivered here if you have the money?
The visitors bring it.
[Rowe] From what I can see in here, they've concocted their own little stoves
with their own little pots and they're cooking their own food.
So, um... they're supplementing the state diet.
What is this meat?
[man 1] Anything with meat there?
[man 2] Cow's meat. Beef.
Cow's meat, beef. It's normal meat...
[chuckles] Hey, listen. If I was in this prison, and this is honest...
-If I was one of you... -[man 2] You like?
-...and I didn't have any food... -[man 2] Tasty?
Well, you know...
[man 1] It doesn't have a taste.
[man 2 laughing]
No, it doesn't. This is how it is.
Not even a dog would eat it. Shall we feed it to the dog?
They're about to demonstrate that not even the dogs
are prepared to eat the food that I just ate.
Check it out. See?
Look at that.
Not even the dog wants it, it's so bad.
[Rowe] He's hungry.
[man 2] Check it out.
It's made it sad, having that given to it.
Not even the dog would eat one of those meals.
[Rowe] I've just eaten a piece of meat
that not even a little puppy dog who's really hungry, they are telling me...
It sniffed, but it wouldn't bite, and that's a sad state of affairs.
And I hope that I get through tonight.
[man 2] But there's more if you want it.
-[Rowe] No, no, no. -[all laughing]
[Rowe] No, no, no. Once is enough. Once is enough.
For prisoners who stay out of trouble and have a willingness to work,
there is one place in Ênio that offers a glimmer of hope
for those determined to change.
Danilo is part of a prisoner-run project that stitches footballs
which are donated to local schools and orphanages.
-Bruno? -[in Portuguese] Yeah.
Are you gonna teach me how to sew a football?
Here, look. Put one color in front of the other.
Right.
So what's this, then? Does this protect you?
It protects the hand.
[Rowe] It gets you out your cell.
Is that what's important? That this gets you out your cell for a few hours a day?
[Danilo in Portuguese] We work in hope that we will get paid,
but the real privilege is that you can reduce your sentence.
Really?
Right, it reduces the sentence.
[Rowe] So, are you the supervisor?
You are a member of staff here who supervises the prisoners?
[in Portuguese] Me?
I am a prisoner.
I have served 11 years.
You're a prisoner? I thought you were one of the guards.
And you've done 11 years. What for? Why have you been in prison for 11 years?
I've been sentenced to 93 years of imprisonment,
convicted for assault and murder.
This prison has a reputation of being violent and brutal,
and that is evident by the number of riots that have taken place.
Have you lived among those riots?
Yes, I witnessed it.
Not that long ago, there was a riot and I was here,
witnessing people...
coming out of the prison,
decapitated and the heart removed.
This reality pains me.
People understand the anger that you guys must feel because of your conditions.
Okay? People feel that and must know that,
but that's no excuse for prisoners killing other prisoners and burning them alive.
It doesn't matter anymore.
It doesn't matter if they die or kill someone.
The system is at breaking point.
It's a scary thought that I'm inside a prison
where prisoners don't care if they live or die
and will be prepared to react at any moment because of the conditions,
and the conditions here are awful.
It's like locking up a lion, not feeding it,
and then opening the prison bars. He'll devour half the world.
Things can't go on like this.
[indistinct chatter]
What I'm hearing in here, and what I'm feeling, is vulnerable,
because these guys are barbaric.
They don't just hurt you. They cut your heart out.
They chop off other men's heads.
I mean, what human being does that?
Since I arrived here,
I've been experiencing prison life as an inmate.
Now I'm switching sides.
I'm spending the day with guard Nathaniel, who has worked here for eight years.
I want to get a little idea about what it's like being a prison guard,
or an agent, as they call themselves.
You can see, these guys are heavily armed.
Every time a prisoner walks past, they take a wide berth.
They take a good two, three steps away from the prisoner.
But I'm going to spend the day with these guys
to see what life is like for a prison guard
in one of the most violent and volatile prisons in Brazil.
[dogs barking]
[Rowe] It's 8:00 a.m.
Nathaniel and his team unshackle the gates of Pavilion C.
Even this daily task seems fraught with tension.
You approach the pavilion with such caution.
Why is that necessary?
[in Portuguese] Because the prisoners who are here, the convicts,
are people who are very dangerous, so it's necessary.
[indistinct chatter]
It's quite tense, this moment when they are unlocking the prisoners,
because no one knows what happened the night before
and whether there's a plot to overpower the guards
and do what they've done many times in this place: rioted.
Once the last of the cells have been opened,
the guards carefully retreat and the inmates are allowed out.
It's all done in a very systematic way.
It may look chaotic, but what's happening is that guards go in,
they're unlocking the cells, but the prisoners are not coming out.
Not coming out until these guards are securely away from any kind of contact,
and the prisoners are complying with that.
Slowly but surely, they were getting anxious
that it was a slower process today than what it would normally be,
but this is a very controlled operation
and a very dangerous operation because it could flip at any minute.
You can see it's all happening in slow motion.
The guards are backing off. The prisoners are starting to come out.
They're all moving with caution.
-[indistinct chatter] -[Rowe] And the day begins.
[Nathaniel] As you can see,
the amount of prisoners who are here in relation to the guards
is completely disproportionate.
Here, just here alone, there are 180.
That puts us at constant risk,
considerable risk all the time, and under pressure.
[Rowe] Ênio dos Santos has one of the most violent reputations
in the state of Rondônia.
There have been three fatal riots here in the last seven years.
So when you are in this watch tower, do you feel safe
because you are removed from the prisoners if something was to happen?
[in Portuguese] No, in the last riot that happened here, there was a...
massacre in this unit and we were completely stranded.
You have to run from here
in case they break through the wall...
as you can see there.
[Rowe] You were here during the massacres.
What did you see with your own eyes? What did you witness?
At least 400 prisoners were loose,
all armed with sticks, knives and fire, and we had to pull back.
We had to shoot so that they couldn't invade.
As one was setting fire there in the front,
the others were taking a convict into the pavilion.
They mutilated him there and quartered him.
There was no possibility of rescuing him. He was already dead, basically.
Are you saying to me that the prisoners run this prison, and not you, the guards?
Not necessarily that they control the prison.
I would say the gangs and criminal organizations
dominate all prisons in Brazil.
The truth is we have no support. We have no security.
So you're living with the nightmare of a riot.
How does your family feel about the fact that every day you go to work,
there is a possibility you may not return?
Not that they agree, anyway. They don't agree.
They are always questioning me.
I'm still here because I got used to it and I like the place.
I like what I do.
[Rowe] With so much tension in the prison,
there is one day
where the inmates at least can get a bit of relief.
I'm back with my cellmates in Pavilion C.
It's a hotbed of excitement and grooming because today is family visiting day.
Days like these are sacred for 36-year-old Mauricelio,
who is on his sixth stretch inside.
-You have a visit today? -[in Portuguese] I do.
So you're sprucing yourself up for the visit?
Yeah, to smell nice and to look well... Yeah, to shave.
So how important is today's visit for you?
[in Portuguese] It's a special day that takes place once a week.
It's the happiest day that comes to us.
How do you think your family feel about you being in prison?
I do not know, man. It's hard to explain.
The women cry. They ask when I'll leave.
I cannot explain it.
What are you in prison for,
and how much longer have you got to serve before you can get back to your family?
I'll get out in 2021.
I am here for drug trafficking and murder.
Drug trafficking and murder. I'll get out in 2021.
[Rowe] I'm seeing lots of guys carrying mattresses.
Their cell mattresses they are taking to the visiting halls,
because some of these guys have the privilege of having a conjugal visit.
They are going to be able to make love to their wives or their girlfriends
or the mother of their children.
So amidst all this terrible conditioning
and all this brutality and all that goes on in this prison,
the one thing they have in their favor is conjugal visits.
With only 12 small cabins for the 180 men of Pavilion C to share,
the makeshift motel is kept very busy.
And Danilo is gearing up to see his girlfriend.
You're very lucky. Most prisons, you don't have conjugal visits.
Do you see this as something that you're very lucky
or is it your right as a prisoner that you should be allowed
to spend time in a private moment with your partner?
I think that if you are married, if you have a wife,
the prisoner should have this right.
When this day comes we say it's the prisoners' Christmas.
And this bonus, it makes me think I am a bit lucky,
that God blessed me in a certain way, the whole Brazilian nation.
Well, enjoy your visit today.
-Enjoy your visit. -Thank you.
[Rowe] Out in the yard, the wives and girlfriends
are congregating around the prison church.
It's the job of my cellmate William
to let the lucky inmates know when their loved ones have arrived.
So you're the messenger, and you bring the piece of paper
to let the guys know whose turn it is for a visit?
[William] I am the messenger of love,
and I bring happiness to my brothers.
Today is a cool day,
because that's when the guys get out and receive their visitors.
[Rowe] But does nobody come to visit you?
Do you not have visits? Have you never had visits?
[William] A horse took her away.
A horse is somebody who takes the wife of a prisoner.
He had to take the woman of a prisoner.
There are so many women. He had to take a prisoner's woman.
A poor man who's locked up.
He takes the prisoner's woman, promising everything.
And that's why I don't have any visitors.
[Rowe] With heightened emotions
and a taste of life outside the prison walls,
on days like this, the guards need to be even more vigilant than usual.
How nervous are you on days like today, visiting days,
when lots of prisoners are having visits,
and in the past there have been serious incidents during these moments?
[in Portuguese] When there are over 100 prisoners running free,
it gets very complicated due to the lack of staff.
And the prisoners are spread around, so we are vulnerable.
The last riot took place on visiting day.
[in Portuguese] When the prisoners are nervous,
it's visible when they are unhappy.
And they start to exhibit a specific kind of nervousness,
and, thanks to our experience, we become cautious.
[Rowe] It's incredible that visiting days can turn so quickly from a love fest
to a bloodbath.
I want to know where the gang leaders responsible for these deadly riots
are kept.
The prison's taken a hard line with the ring leaders.
They are kept on lockdown in a supermax unit known as 470.
It's a foreboding concrete dungeon designed to segregate and contain
the most dangerous criminals from both the PCC and Red Command.
I've been granted access to the most secure section of the compound.
Hey, guys, we're going in now.
Everyone chill. All cool?
Precautions they have to take before they enter any of these units
is quite... is quite intimidating. I mean, look.
I'm meeting Red Command gang members,
some of whom were involved in the recent riots.
-[in Portuguese] Good morning. -Good morning.
[in English] How many? One, two, three, four, five, six?
[in Portuguese] Five.
[Rowe] Why is there such a beef between the Red Command and the PCC?
Now a lot of blood has been shed,
and for blood you pay with even more blood.
When does it come to an end? When do you stop spilling each other's blood?
Do you want to die just because you want to belong to a faction?
We need to adapt to survive.
You understand?
We would prefer to be with our families, but we are ready to die.
If they want to attack us, we are forced to kill. You understand?
But if you wasn't involved in the faction in the first place,
your life would not be threatened.
You're a young man. You've got your whole life ahead of you.
What is the purpose of being involved in a faction
where your life could end at any moment?
We are in the faction because we don't want to die.
So it's better to kill.
It is not good for our lives,
but we are already living a life of crime, so that is it.
This is the choice we made
knowing that it would bring a lot of consequences in the future.
In my view,
the gang fighting will be over only when everybody is eliminated.
It won't finish. It doesn't finish. It is all over Brazil.
[indistinct chatter]
If these young guys have got that in their head,
this can never end.
It will go on and on and on, because they've got years,
unless they're killed of course... of gang rivalry.
It's just shocking to me.
It just doesn't make sense, the way they think.
It just doesn't make sense to me.
[indistinct chatter]
[Rowe] With such little hope in the maximum security unit,
and the prison's volatile mix of terrible conditions and deadly gang riots,
I want to know how the authorities plan
to break the cycle of violence and deprivation.
So I'm meeting Mr. Rocha,
the Justice Secretary for the state of Rondônia,
who's in charge of all the prisons in this region of Brazil.
From what I've seen, the conditions are appalling,
and both the guards, the agents, and the prisoners
all talk about this boiling pot, that the conditions are so awful
that it's only a matter of time before they explode,
and the rivalry between factions will lead to more people losing their lives,
like there have been in the past, under your watch.
How do you deal with that?
[in Portuguese] Try to imagine working in a situation
where in every cell there are more than 30 prisoners.
Try to imagine, on top of that,
dealing with riots and fights between rival criminal gangs.
We need to bring peace to prisons.
If not, the prisoners will continue what they were doing before.
I'm just concerned that the prisoners I've spoken to,
they say that the conditions and the oppression that they are under
is feeding this beast within.
And so they are being drawn more to the gangs,
rather than breaking that cycle.
We don't have enough financial resources to hire enough people to work,
as no state could ever handle it.
This is the reality we work in.
It's a constant problem to try and solve.
My goal and will is that there is no more aggression,
ever.
It's not enough to imprison somebody.
We need to help these people, so that they won't go back to a life of crime.
[Rowe] Until the authorities allocate more money
to address the chronic gang violence in the Porto Velho complex,
the risk of all-out war between the PCC and the Red Command
remains a constant threat.
There is one corner of the prison, however, where there is some hope.
The Acuda Project is a charitable foundation
run buy ex-inmates and sanctioned by the prison authorities.
It seeks to teach life skills and provide emotional rehabilitation
for prisoners that demonstrate a willingness to change.
38-year-old Anderson has been in and out of prison since he was nine years old.
Like many of the men in Acuda,
he's serving a long sentence for murder and rape.
This is a very different feel to what it's like in Ênio and other pavilions.
This is a very different space. It must feel like that for you too, right?
[in Portuguese] Here people feel more free. We are more free to walk,
to do other activities that you can't do inside the prison.
This is a perfect place for people to recover.
[electronic music playing]
[Rowe] The mission of this project
is to transform the mindset of violent criminals.
[all vocalizing]
[Rowe] Here, crimes and gang affiliations are left at the door
in a bid to encourage spiritual healing.
There's one thing I've noticed that I haven't noticed anywhere else
in any of these prison complexes. These guys are laughing.
Whatever's going on here, and I don't understand the language,
they're laughing, they're relaxing,
they're releasing some tension, they're sweating.
And they're doing it together, not against each other.
And that's really interesting.
The main event in Acuda requires everyone to prepare
with an ancient Amazonian cleansing ritual.
The mud is often infused with a natural hallucinogenic called ayahuasca,
but, thankfully for me, not today.
Even so, I'm way out of my comfort zone.
I must tell you that I am not used to this,
and so I feel uncomfortable
about somebody touching me and putting mud on me.
[in Portuguese] I also had problems with the massage,
people touching my body.
Sometimes people need to lose their shyness.
It will be fine. You'll have a different experience.
[man in Portuguese] Guys, slowly and gently.
Guys, slowly and gently.
Luís, very gently.
It doesn't feel like I'm in a prison.
It doesn't feel like I have a prisoner, a murdering kind of prisoner...
rubbing mud up and down my body.
It is a far, far different place
from where these guys' journeys begin in Pandinha in those concrete cells.
As I get my hands dirty,
I can't help feeling there is a real spirit of unity in this place.
This is a weird feeling!
[Rowe] This brings everybody from all over the prison to this one place.
People forget their rivalries.
People forget their differences, their crimes.
Is that what this place helps people with as well?
There are no gangs here.
Everybody is the same.
At this moment, there are no better people than others.
Here, everybody is paying for their mistakes.
No one is interested in the crimes of others.
We are in a place where we are trying to change.
Here, no one wants to know what others did.
[exclaiming]
[Rowe] One of the main goals of Acuda's rehabilitation strategy
is for inmates to confront and expel their own demons.
It's easy to forget I'm in a prison.
But this holistic therapy is not a million miles away
from the meditation I practiced for years inside.
-[conga playing] -[Rowe] They may be serious criminals,
but if it encourages their rehabilitation
and helps prevent them reoffending in the future,
-it can only be a good thing. -[indistinct chatter]
For a prison that has been dogged by massacres,
all of these guys have, for a moment, just for a fraction,
given up their factions.
Whether they are Red Command or PCC,
at this very moment, it doesn't matter,
because they are joined as prisoners.
And that is what it's about right now: just being prisoners.
So, you know, the ongoing rivalry has just been paused, you could say,
-for a very brief moment, you know. -[prisoners chuckling]
[chuckles] And if this... If this is what it takes to forget...
Hey.
Okay.
[in Portuguese] I'll take a tea shower in order to...
Okay. Gracias.
-Gracias. -[men speaking in Portuguese]
I'm feeling very privileged.
[in Portuguese] Tea shower over there.
[Rowe] I hope the prison can improve the conditions and security
for both the inmates and guards here.
But as things stand,
William and Danilo are still waiting to be moved to cells that are habitable.
And Nathaniel is hoping he can keep making it home to his family every night.
This is the end of my week-long experience
inside one of Brazil's most dangerous prisons.
The conditions in there will live with me for the rest of my life.
But the government have got to tackle the gang problem
if they want to avoid yet another deadly riot.