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Brazilwell above the system’s capacity of 170,000. Of these, 8,510 are femaleinmates, constituting about 4% of the inmate population. The lack ofspace, combined with an underfunded and understaffed penal system, ledto frequent prison riots and other outbreaks of violence. 77 More than32’000 prisoners, most of them already convicted, remain in temporaryholding facilities in police stations.A positive step was taken in September 2002, when São Paulo stateauthorities shut down the largest prison in Latin America, the Casa deDetenção, in the Carandirú prison complex. Prisoners have been transferredto smaller and more modern penitentiaries in the state’s interior.However, many prisoners complain about the transfer because they can nolonger receive visits from family as it is too far away from their homes.Women’s facilities in São Paulo’s penitentiary system are even more overcrowdedthan those for men. Certain facilities are said to hold more than500 inmates above the capacity limit and the state’s expansion programfor Brazilian penitentiaries does not envisage the building of new femalefacilities.Women in custody in Brazil are also reportedly subjected to ill-treatmentin some facilities. For instance in April 2001, civil police were called toput down a rebellion that occurred in São Paulo city. A representative of ahuman rights organisation claimed to have seen women with severe headinjuries. Police reportedly have beaten pregnant inmates and there hasbeen no investigation against the responsible officers. 78Consistent with international rules, Brazil’s national prison law stipulatesthat women prisoners must be supervised by women guards. 79 In practice,some women’s prisons employ both male and female guards, althoughthey normally impose restrictions on which areas of the facility maleguards can enter, so that men do not venture into the more private areas.Women prisoners in several facilities report, nonetheless, that male guardsoften enter these areas, what may lead to sexual abuse and extortion ofsexual favors. In the States of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, for instance,prisons destined for the holding of females are served by male officers.Women in João Pessoa Women’s Penitentiary also complained about verbalabuse, particularly from the male guards. Similar complaints of verbalabuse were voiced at the São Paulo Women’s Penitentiary, where womeninmates said that male guards occasionally refer to them as “prostitutes.”91