海角大神

鈥� A version of this post ran on the author's blog,听.听The views expressed are the author's own.

Over 550,000 Brazilians are incarcerated, making Brazil home to the听听prison population in the world. The number of prisoners grew 30 percent over the past two decades, meaning that over half a million prisoners are occupying space meant for听. So it's no wonder that there are legal mechanisms in place to alleviate overcrowded jails. Some of these rules happen to be implemented around Christmas.

First, there's the annual pardon. Each year, the president issues a听听ending the sentences of eligible prisoners. These are typically听, and听last year it affected those with a sentence of 8-12 years. In 2011, around听听received the Christmas pardon. In recent years, the pardon has freed听听of the country's prison population annually.

There's also what's called the听, or the "big leave." This can happen up to five times a year for eligible prisoners: at Christmas/New Year's, Mother's Day, Easter, and other holidays. In order to receive this right to leave for a maximum of听, a judge must approve. And it's not just any prisoner who can benefit: prisoners must be in听, have good behavior, and have served a sixth of their sentence if they're first-time offenders or a quarter if they're repeat offenders. Last year,听听prisoners were eligible for Christmas leave.

During their week away, prisoners are expected to be on their best behavior, and are not supposed to听, for example. Plus, prison agents are supposed to conduct random home visits to make sure prisoners are playing by the rules. Sometimes, electronic ankle bracelets are used: I, around 18 percent of those on temporary Christmas leave had to use them.

Despite the threat of increased sentences and further punishments for disobeying the conditions of temporary leave, in recent years around 5 to 7 percent of prisoners failed to return to jail. In 2012,听听nationwide didn't come back from Christmas leave, around 5.1 percent of those who earned the 蝉补颈诲茫辞. That year, Sergipe had the largest desertion rate of any other state:听.听S茫o Paulo 鈥� which has the country's听听鈥撎齭aw听听avoid returning to prison last year.

Over time, the numbers add up. From 2003 to 2012, over 50,000 Brazilian prisoners on temporary leave failed to return to jail, according to a听. Among those who went on the lam include several suspected murderers and a major drug trafficker.