There was a 15% reduction in the first year of the PT government; Over the past administration, the accumulated drop was 57.5%
The number of benefits granted to families of prisoners fell from 19,875, in December 2022, to 16,775 in December 2023. The movement of aid continues in 2024. In April, there were 16,024. The data was obtained by Power360 via Access to Information Law.
The aid is a monthly payment to the prisoner’s family who received up to R$1,819 and contributed to Social Security. The former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) called “prison bag“. He began a process of reducing the concession, which continues under the current government.
In 2023, spending fell 15%. Disbursement from the INSS (National Social Security Institute) with incarceration aid went from R$371.4 million in the last year of Bolsonaro to R$316.2 million under Lula.
The average value of the benefit paid to prisoners monthly was R$1,350 in December. It was below the minimum wage, R$1,412.
During the previous government, the drop was 57.5%. According to INSS’s deputy Benefits Director, Geovani Spiecker, the continuous drop is the result of changes in the rules, resulting from the Social Security reform in 2019. The guidance for granting did not change with the change of government. “We are back to normal“, he told Power360.
The only change that can be seen in the issue is the result of the floods in Rio Grande do Sul. The calamity should accelerate the granting of prisons to Rio Grande do Sul. Spiecker says that all state benefits, from Social Security to Prison Assistance, have priority.
Bolsonaro Government
The number of benefits granted to families of prisoners, prison aid, fell by 57.5% during the government Jair Bolsonaro (PL). When he took over in January 2019, there were 46,750 beneficiaries. In December 2022, it closed at 19,875.
It can be interpreted that Bolsonaro fulfilled one of his objectives as President: to tighten reception standards. This was a result of provisional measure (already converted into law) at the beginning of his mandate and greater oversight.
At the beginning of the administration, the disbursement of INSS (National Social Security Institute) with the incarceration benefit was R$49.8 million. The amount decreased to R$ 25.6 million in December 2022.
2.6% OF PRISONERS RECEIVE
There were 644,316 prisoners in the country as of December 2023, according to the National Secretariat for Penal Policies. Only 2.6% receive prison benefits. The prerequisites are to have a formal job with a salary of up to R$1,819. In October 2020, it was 5%.
In 2019, there was a reduction with the imposition of more rules to access money.
In 2020, the scenario was reversed. Because of the economic crisis resulting from the pandemic, more people were seeking the benefits they were entitled to, and the number rose again.
One order from the Union Public Defender’s Office also made the INSS make requirements more flexible during the state of public calamity – which expired on December 31, 2020.
After “fine-toothed” of the INSS and greater demands on granting benefits, the number fell to the lowest level in the last 10 years.
Currently, these are the rules:
- deficiency – You must have made at least 24 contributions to make the request. Before the changes made by Bolsonaro, only a contribution to the INSS was required;
- prisoners with the right – only for family members of inmates in the closed regime, and no longer in the semi-open regime;
- income – proof of low income considers the average of the insured person’s last 12 salaries, not just the last month before prison;
- accumulation of benefits – was banned.
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