Social Social cleansing: forced admissions "clean" the streets of Balneário Camboriú

[LeonardoBjj]

Accused of “social cleansing”, Balneário Camboriú is the stage for the journalistic investigation ‘In the shadow of the skyscrapers’
On the morning of January 24, Antônio* decided to try to steal a bicycle in the Biguaçu city hall parking lot, in front of the eyes of the Municipal Guard, taxi drivers and other residents who were passing by. His objective was to be arrested so he could return home to Balneário Camboriú.

In the shadow of the skyscrapers of the Santa Catarina city known as the “Brazilian Dubai”, Antônio* and three other men claim to have been forcibly taken by the Municipal Guard for compulsory hospitalization in Biguaçu, a municipality in Greater Florianópolis.

In the shadow of the skyscrapers

Antônio* says that he was on the corner of the house where he lives, in Balneário Camboriú, talking to a friend, when he saw a black, unmarked Mercedes van approaching. It was close to midnight on January 3rd to 4th.

Three Municipal Guard agents approached them, stating that they would take them to a health center and then to CRAS (Social Assistance Reference Center) and then they would be released. That night, however, Antônio* did not return home.

“After I left CRAS, which is on the street next to my house, they put us in the minibus. A friend of mine asked the Municipal Guard why that was happening, where we were going and caught us on the bus. It’s violence on top of violence”, he recalls.

It was only in the early hours of January 4, 2024, when he arrived at Instituto Redenção, in the Biguaçu unit, that Antônio* discovered that he was 73km from home.

Forced internations are against the law:
(and human decense)
Involuntary internatation is provided for in federal laws 10,216 and 11,343, which cover the rights of people with mental disorders or drug addiction. In this type of hospitalization, according to the constitution, the patient does not consent to the hospitalization and a third person is responsible and authorizes the action.

However, the legislation provides that hospitalization against the person's will can only occur exceptionally, with a prior individual medical report and in a hospital institution specialized in treating mental disorders and chemical dependency. Santa Catarina has five institutions capable of providing this service, but the Redenção Institute is not among them.

According to the laws, these people could only be admitted to Caps (Psychosocial Care Center) of just two types; They are: Caps III (serves people in intense psychological distress resulting from serious and persistent mental disorders) or Caps AD III (serves drug addicts in intense psychological distress and in need of ongoing clinical care). Therapeutic communities, like Redenção, do not fit into this category.

When contacted, the municipality of Balneário Camboriú informed that it has an agreement with three therapeutic communities in the area of social inclusion and health: in addition to the Redenção Institute, the Luz da Vida therapeutic community, located in Camboriú, and the Árvore da Vida institution, in Itajaí.

Agreements investigated

According to the municipality's transparency portal, since mid-2018, around R$8.2 million has been committed to these three clinics and R$5.3 million paid in agreements made to approach and treat homeless people.

The relationship between the city hall of Balneário Camboriú and the Instituto Redenção — a therapeutic community contracted for approach and reception and the focus of this report — was the subject of at least three investigations and a legal measure in 2023.

The institute has four units in Santa Catarina: two in Camboriú, one in Itajaí and another in Biguaçu. Since August 2020, the city hall of Balneário Camboriú has committed R$1,943,241.51 and paid R$1,206,377.81 to the therapeutic community.

However, Alceu Daud de Mello, owner of Instituto Redenção, claims that he only carries out voluntary admissions, that is, when the people referred are admitted of their own free will. Furthermore, he states that he cannot answer for the actions of the Municipal Guard of Balneário Camboriú.

“The Redenção Institute participated in a call for proposals to welcome people in situations of social vulnerability and that is what we do. We provide treatment for chemical dependency, psychological assistance, social assistance, medical assistance and everything provided for in our Therapeutic Program. I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU ARE INSISTING ON INVOLUNTARY RECREATION, YOU ARE TALKING TO THE WRONG INSTITUTION”, he wrote in a note.

“We went the whole way with the gun to our heads”

Jairo* was drinking whiskey in the parking lot of a supermarket around 9pm on January 3rd when he was approached by the black van and agents from the Balneário Camboriú Municipal Guard.

“I'm not a drug user, I'm an alcoholic and I don't bother anyone, I was just drinking with the other guys,” he said.

At 47 years old, the metalworker says he lives with his mother in Barra Velha, in the North of Santa Catarina, and was in Balneário Camboriú to visit his nephew.

“I said I wasn’t homeless, that I was at my nephew’s house, but they didn’t even want an explanation, they said ‘get in and leave


Jairo* went to Biguaçu together with Antônio* and what he remembers as 11 other people in the van. Just like the resident of Balneário Camboriú, the resident of Barra Velha didn't know where he was going. He remembers a man approached by the Municipal Guard who he caught on the way to the Redenção Institute.

“They didn't hit me, but the boy who was with me they beat a lot, if we moved they would shoot, we went the whole way with the gun to our heads”.

 

[DanSavage]

On the morning of January 24, Antônio* decided to try to steal a bicycle in the Biguaçu city hall parking lot, in front of the eyes of the Municipal Guard, taxi drivers and other residents who were passing by. His objective was to be arrested so he could return home to Balneário Camboriú.

He steals a bike to game the system so he can be sent home at the state's expense, then doesn't like the outcome he got.

No sympathy from me. Next time, don't poke the bear.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

-

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Like dogs in a cart

Involuntary internatation along the lines of Balneário Camboriú was prohibited by the Santa Catarina court, which accused the city hall of promoting “social hygiene”. In the decision, from October 2023, judge Hélio do Valle Pereira compared the municipality's treatment to that given to dogs:

“There is even mention that some of those collected are handcuffed, which is disgusting. […] In other words, help is even provided to those who want it, but those who refuse are picked up anyway – not as free people, but closer to what is done with dogs, where they are placed in a cart”.

In an interview with Grupo ND, on February 1st, the mayor of Balneário Camboriú and president of Fecam (Santa Catarina Federation of Municipalities), Fabrício Oliveira (PL), praised the project he called “Health Clinic”. In his view, the project provides health and psychological care and leads to the job market.

“He [homeless person] needs medical intervention so that he can really give more dignity to his life and that is what we are doing. So it is being an example, it is being a model, because we have obtained positive data and numbers, always paying close attention to respect”, said Oliveira.

City Hall claims to be unaware of cases of violence
When asked to comment on the irregularities in the approach and violence of the Municipal Guard, the city council of Balneário Camboriú stated that it was not aware of the cases.

“The Municipality of Balneário Camboriú is unaware of these complaints, it is worth remembering that the Municipal Guard only monitors Health and Social Inclusion professionals, to guarantee their safety”, said an excerpt from the position.

Regarding the practices denounced by Jairo*, Antônio*, Felipe* and Eduardo*, the municipality's advisors claimed that they “comply with all the determinations made in the process”, based on determinations from the MPSC (Public Ministry of Santa Catarina).

“The guy has a rifle and a club next to you and tells you to get in the van, you go”
Felipe* managed to leave Instituto Redenção in Biguaçu one day after turning 41. He held in his hands a ticket to his home, in Balneário Piçarras, after a week in hospital. He says that he was approached by the Municipal Guard, in the same black van mentioned by Antônio*, in the early hours of January 18th.

“I was at Praia Central, they picked me up and brought me here [Biguaçu]. What will I do? Let them hit me? The guy has a rifle and a club next to you and tells you to get in the van, you go”, he remembers.

Eduardo*, 34 years old, remembers refusing, more than once, the invitation from the Municipal Guard and social assistance agents to be hospitalized. On January 8, he was crossing Avenida do Estado Dalmo Vieira, parallel to the city's edge, when he was called by the agents, who already knew him, towards the van.

Curious, Eduardo* went to the place and received an invitation to be admitted, without details of where it would be.

“I said 'I don't want to, I have a family, I'm going to my house', I had the house key on my neck, I said that on Monday I was going to a clinic that my mother's church arranged, so I denied it. and they took me by force. I use drugs and everything, but I have a home, my family will never leave me”, he recalls.

New asylums

Vinicius Lances, doctor in political sociology from UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) and spokesperson for organizations that participated in an act against involuntary hospitalization in Florianópolis, which took place in February, highlighted the difficulty that people who are involuntarily admitted have to prove other than homeless people.

“What we have seen happened with asylums in the last century, until the person proves it, they are already imprisoned, drugged, probably being physically or morally tortured in some way. Until she explains, she is already locked up in a clinic, because it is involuntary. There’s a saying where I was born that says that until you prove that a hinge is not a butterfly, you’ve seen a lot of doors flying”, he criticized.

For the sociologist, one of the main problems with compulsory hospitalization validated as public policy is the risk that abusive approaches such as those reported by Antônio, Jairo, Eduardo and Felipe continue to occur.

“What I mean in practice is the following: if a person is, for example, drunk on the beach and is approached by these agents and they do not have a document, even if they are from the richest family, until they explain, they already she will be under the influence of drugs that the psychiatrists will give her, trapped in a clinic.”

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Unwanted people in Balneário Camboriú increase the homeless population in Biguaçu


Unlike Felipe*, who managed to return to Balneário Piçarras, his hometown, after leaving Instituto Redenção, Jairo*, Antônio* and Eduardo* started sleeping on the streets of Biguaçu when they left the hospital. In an attempt to return home, they asked the residents of the municipality of Greater Florianópolis for money, food and help.

The three were not the only ones. Taxi drivers, traders and security guards noticed the increase in the homeless population in the municipality and received requests for help from many people who told the same story: they were forcibly caught by Municipal Guard agents, placed in a black van and admitted to the Redenção Institute.

On the morning of January 24, after two days outside the institute walking around the city without documents or a cell phone asking for help to return to Balneário Camboriú, Antônio* tried to steal the bicycle. To the police and reporters, he told his objective: to be arrested so he could call an acquaintance and arrange a ride back to the city where he lives.

He went to the bicycle rack at Biguaçu City Hall and started messing with one of the bicycles parked there. The location was strategic. On the other side of the street, less than five meters from where I was, there were taxi drivers and Municipal Guard vehicles, in Nereu Ramos square, which centralizes the city's justice and security bodies.

“I looked at a bicycle and went, broke the lock and stood in front. Then a woman came, ‘is the bike yours?’ I said no. She held the bike, called the taxi drivers. Then I ran a little, because I knew I was going to get hit. The guys caught me further ahead, but I stopped and said, ‘I surrender, I surrender, I surrender’”, he says.

“They say they were forcibly brought from Balneário Camboriú and left here”
When he was interviewed, in January 2024, Alexandre Ori da Silva managed the Nadin restaurant, a 24-hour restaurant that was located on the side of BR-101, but which closed on February 26th. He says that, two days before the interview, on January 22, an employee of his saw a van leaving people on the road, just in front of the restaurant. Soon, people went to ask for help at the establishment.

“Here one leaves, another appears. There's always one. And now the same story is always coming. They say they were forcibly brought from Balneário Camboriú and left here.”

When contacted several times, the Biguaçu city council press office did not respond until the publication of this report.

The return home
When he spoke to the reporter, Jairo had been sleeping on the streets of Biguaçu for four days and was still trying to return to Barra Velha.

“I don’t stay in Balneário anymore, oh little place. I've been sleeping on the street since Sunday [in Biguaçu]. I just want to go to my mom’s house.”

Eduardo* and Antônio* met at the clinic and met on the streets of Biguaçu. After Eduardo* spent 10 days sleeping on the street, he and Antônio* returned home with an app car paid for by one of his family members.

A resident of Balneário Camboriú, Antônio* shows bruises on his hands and legs, resulting from police attacks. He refused to give in to threats not to return to the city.

“When they [Municipal Guard] left us there they told us not to come back, otherwise we would get beaten. But if I don't go back to my city, where will I go? Will I abandon everything? That’s not how it works”, said Antônio*

Violence in social approach was prohibited after MPSC inquiry
The approach described by Jairo*, Antônio*, Eduardo* and Felipe* was prohibited by a judicial measure from the TJSC in October 2023. The treatment of people allegedly living on the streets by Balneário Camboriú city hall is the target of at least two investigations by the MPSC (Public Ministry of Santa Catarina) and an administrative process.

One of them denounced the forced and armed transportation of homeless people by the Municipal Guard and even temporarily suspended the “Social Clinic” program, the name given to the approach and transportation of people in August 2023.

At the time, the 6th Public Prosecutor's Office of the District of Balneário Camboriú found that the municipality was forcibly transporting homeless people to another city. Furthermore, during the night and early hours of the morning, the Municipal Guard was accused of forcibly leading them, using weapons and handcuffs, to the “reception”.

In the complaint, Public Prosecutor Álvaro Pereira Oliveira Melo stated that the municipality's conduct went beyond what the Law and the Constitution of the Republic prescribe, and stated that the armed approach had a “prejudiced conception”, as it was aimed exclusively at people considered the “ social unwanted”.

“Users are coercively taken into custody, during the early hours of the morning, under the armed custody of public agents, in a clear attempt to promote a type of social cleansing”, he assessed at the time.

In October, the injunction was partially accepted by the TJSC (Court of Justice of Santa Catarina). In the vote, judge Hélio do Valle Pereira pointed out:

“The institutional stigmatization of minorities, the criminalization of poverty, cannot be allowed. If all the prejudice and unimaginably inhumane situations to which they are exposed were not enough, many trapped in their vices, it is indefensible that social hygiene is officially allowed (derived from aporophobia, which is the aversion to the poor), eclipsing it in the form of a so-called humanized public policy, but which in essence prioritizes only appearance (an idea that no one sees them, that they remain hidden)”.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Balneário Camboriú may face charges of false imprisonment and kidnapping

Five months after the TJSC's decision and faced with the new accusations highlighted by this report, prosecutor Daniel Paladino, from the 30th Public Prosecutor's Office of the Capital, points out that the conduct of Balneário Camboriú, in case of the accusations of Antônio*, Jairo*, Eduardo* and Felipe* are confirmed, they are serious.

“It can constitute a crime of illegal restraint, threat, kidnapping, false imprisonment, in addition to a crime of bodily harm. In theory, almost a dozen crimes”, pointed out the prosecutor.

Investigation found inconsistencies in million-dollar contract and ended up suspending partnership
In March 2023, a 10-month collaboration agreement drawn up by the city council of Balneário Camboriú indicated the intention to pay around R$4 million to the Instituto Redenção for social approach, reception and expansion and renovation services at Casa de Passagem — a location in Balneário Camboriú designed to welcome people who are homeless or vulnerable.

An administrative process filed within the city hall revealed inconsistencies and flaws in the collaboration agreement. According to the investigation, the city hall of Balneário Camboriú did not allow other institutions to participate in the selection process and the misuse of the funds made available.

In April 2023, the municipality's Accountability Committee determined the annulment of the collaboration agreement between the city hall and the Redenção Institute and the return of the remaining balance paid to the therapeutic community.

A month earlier, in March 2023, another investigation, by the MPSC, also reported irregularities in the collaboration agreement between the municipality and the therapeutic community. The case remains open in the Santa Catarina Courts.

According to the records of the MPSC investigation, around R$170,000 was returned to public coffers. The municipality's transparency portal indicates that R$613,316.71 was paid to the institute during the period in which the collaboration agreement was valid.

However, in September 2023, the city hall opened an accreditation notice and again contracted the Instituto Redenção for the involuntary hospitalization of homeless people. According to the notice, the municipality pays R$1,922.52 for each person hospitalized against their will.

De Balneário Camboriú a Biguaçu: internações à força limpam as ruas ‘à sombra dos arranha-céus’

Acusada de “higienização social”, Balneário Camboriú é palco da investigação jornalística ‘À sombra dos arranha-céus'; esta edição traz a narrativa completa da série publicada em quatro partes

ndmais.com.br

 

[LeonardoBjj]

- Sorry guys. Cant edit. Put images anymore or even put the link