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A federal judge in Brazil recently warned that neglecting prisoners’ human rights will backfire on society, as shown by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Judge Daniel Neves Pereira, an IU McKinney Master of Laws candidate, made the statement in relation to his master’s thesis titled “Human Rights and the Environment In Prisons: A Case Study of Persons Deprived of Liberty in Porto Alegre Central Prison, Brazil, Before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.” Pereira successfully defended his thesis before a three-member faculty defense panel and two other faculty experts from Brazil on March 23, 2020.

Prisoners’ “right to a healthy environment in prisons is a topic that comprises the enjoyment of several human rights. However, not only the prisoners’ rights are at stake,” Judge Pereira said. “Considering we are living in a world where risks are incalculable, the broader society is also affected by environmental hazards in prison facilities.”

Professor Stella Emery Santana served as Judge Pereira’s thesis adviser. Professors Lea Shaver and Fran Quigley acted as members of the defense committee. Professor Patricia Antunes Laydner, Vice-Dean at Escola Superior da Magistratura (AJURIS), and Professor Paulo Agne Fayet De Souza, at UniRitter, served as advising experts during his defense.

Pereira hopes bring about new perspectives to the issues of justice and enforcement of environmental rights in prisons in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Judge Pereira heads the Human Rights Department at Association of Judges of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (AJURIS) in Brazil. Pereira completed his LL.M. in International Human Rights Law. He led the law school students’ Master of Laws Association as president-elect.