Visiting Piriquito
Celia and Piriquito met on the street and have been together on the street for more than 20 years and they have 2 or 3 children. At the moment though, Celia is with his younger brother Alexandre - at least while Piriquito serves a 2 year prison sentence for robbery with a knife. Celia is desperate to visit him with their daughter Bruna and we agreed to try and help. She needs official ID, 2 recent photographs, a document proving she has no criminal record, a fixed residential address. If she wants an 'intimate visit' a negative HIV and full gynecological check are also required. She then needs to travel to the prison, about 60 km north of Belo Horizonte to present these documents in person. The travel expenses alone would make it impossible for her to visit without our help and the beurocracy also requires lengthy, confusing telephone conversations with numerous government departments (if someone actually ever picks up the phone). If she ever gets as far as making a visit there is another long list of rules, such as:
- she must wear light coloured clothes (not see through), with short sleeves
- dresses must be below the knee
- no shoes, only sandals or flip flops
- no jewellery
- she must sign a document agreeing to be searched, x-rayed and gynecologically examined if the authorities deem it necessary.
What's also interesting is the long list of items she is allowed to bring for Piriquito, for example:
- food that doesn't require cooking such as chocolate or biscuits (with no cream)
- soft drinks (max 2 litres)
- soap, shampoo etc
- up to 5 packets of cigarettes
- toilet cleaning materials
- notebook and pen
- 1 ball
- all items should weigh a maximum of 5 kilo's
- all items must fit in no more than 2 plastic bags
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