Case Spotlight: Minas Gerais, Brazil
GPA – Gestores Prisionais Associados
The prison system in Brazil, and in Minas Gerais in particular, faces long-standing challenges such as overcrowding, poor infrastructure, limited resources, and difficulties in promoting the social reintegration of individuals in custody. In this context, the Ribeirão das Neves prison Public Private Partnership (PPP) has emerged as an innovative model that seeks to mitigate these shortcomings through collaboration between the public and private sectors.
In January 2025, the Ribeirão das Neves Prison Complex completed 12 years of operation. Conceived in 2009 as part of a long-term State Plan to reduce violence through intelligence
led actions, preventive measures, and the modernisation of the prison system, the project was designed to tackle the prison crisis and expand opportunities for social reintegration. Under the contract, the private partner is responsible for construction, operation, and maintenance, while the state handles law enforcement functions, such as technical classification, disciplinary measures, perimeter security, escorts, and sentence enforcement.
Key objectives include improving the physical infrastructure of prison units, ensuring dignity for individuals in custody, and implementing education and work programmes. The partnership also seeks to improve administrative efficiency and reduce recidivism by supporting rehabilitation.
Partnering with the private sector helps to overcome challenges like slow construction timelines, inadequate maintenance, and insufficient resources for social programmes. In addition, it allows the government to delegate administrative tasks — such as internal monitoring, facility upkeep, and support services — to the private partner, while focusing on core state responsibilities related to legal and judicial matters.
With payments tied to performance targets, the contract incentivises modern, efficient management practices and tangible improvements in security, maintenance, and support services.
This collaboration brings notable innovations, including modern architectural design that prioritises security, durability, and functionality, and the use of technology such as electronic monitoring systems and automated door controls. Additionally, the infrastructure is designed to support paid work opportunities and education, with workshops, classrooms, and libraries. These initiatives create a structured environment that supports rehabilitation, demonstrating the potential of PPPs to positively impact prison management.
Among the innovations are the modern architectural design, which prioritises security, watertightness, maintenance and functionality of the environments, and the use of technologies such as electronic monitoring and automated door opening and closing systems.
In addition, the units have the infrastructure to offer paid labour and education, with workshops, classrooms and libraries. These initiatives create a structured environment geared towards social reintegration, demonstrating that the PPP can indeed help transform the prison landscape.
The Ribeirão das Neves prison PPP has delivered notable results that show significant advantages over conventional prison management models applied in Brazil. The main benefits
and expected impacts include:
- Reducing overcrowding: the prison’s capacity limits are strictly observed, ensuring that facilities are not overpopulated and helping to ease overcrowding in Minas Gerais’ broader
prison system. - Focus on rehabilitation: currently, around 80% of individuals in custody participate in work or educational programmes, which aim to reduce recidivism and support successful reintegration into society.
- Improved health and well-being: the model includes medical, dental and psychological care, as well as physical and cultural activities, which contribute to better overall physical and mental health, reducing incidents of violence and internal tensions.
- Efficient management: performance indicators linked to safety, healthcare, material support, maintenance, and assistance services create contractual incentives for achieving operational excellence.
- Reduction in recidivism: although still under analysis, early data shows a significant decrease in the rate of recidivism among those who took part in educational and work programmes at the Complex.
- Innovation in management and infrastructure: the use of modern technologies, thoughtful architectural design, and facilities designed for education and work make the environment safer and more conducive to rehabilitation.
These results highlight the potential of public-private partnerships as an effective model for addressing the challenges of Brazil’s prison system. While the Ribeirão das Neves Prison PPP has shown promising outcomes, the broader picture remains complex. The majority of Brazil’s prison units managed by state governments, often lack the financial resources needed to tackle the growing crisis, marked by an exponentially increasing number of people in custody.
Addressing this situation would require the construction of at least 80 prison facilities with the same capacity and standards as Ribeirão das Neves. This underscores the urgency of scaling up such initiatives and exploring sustainable strategies that combine efficiency with humane conditions, to meet the pressing demands of Brazil’s correctional system.
Advertisement
