A trio of detainees read the Bible in the courtyard of the Compact Penitentiary Osvaldo Cruz in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Tuesday, July 31, 2018. All are evangelicals.
Photographer: Rodrigo Capote for Bloomberg Businessweek
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Imprisoned for credit-card fraud in 2010, Joao Luiz Francisco da Silva faced a choice between the filthy, treacherous cells ruled by drug cartels and the tidy ones run by evangelicals. Like a growing number of Brazilian convicts, Da Silva joined ranks with Christian inmates.
“It was necessary to survive psychologically,” said Da Silva, noting that pastors used a kiddie pool for jailhouse baptisms. He now works for an organization of former prisoners seeking to influence debate on Brazil’s penitentiary system.