https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/416/brazil.shtml

Two weeks ago, Drug War Chronicle wrote about the case of Iolanda Figueiral, the 79-year-old Brazilian woman weighing less than 90 pounds and dying of cancer who was rotting away in a Brazilian prison after being convicted of drug trafficking charges over 19 rocks of crack cocaine found in a house she shared with her adult son. The case provoked the Penitentiary Pastoral of the Archdiocese of the State of São Paulo and her family to seek relief and an international outcry to win her release. Spearheaded by retired Rio de Janeiro Judge Maria Luisa Karam and taken up by the European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies, the effort paid off Tuesday when Figeuiral was released pending appeal.

Under current Brazilian law, drug trafficking is considered a "hideous" crime like rape or murder, and accused persons are not allowed to be free on appeal. But a ruling by Sao Paulo state court Judge Joao Coimbra Mazzoni cut her loose. The terminally ill Figueiral will now most likely be allowed to die at home.

But after four months in prison, Figueiral is now down to about 70 pounds and her cancer is more advanced. The great-grandmother of 15 tries to make a living by gathering and selling cardboard, but lacks money even for necessities like a new colostomy bag. According to the Folha de Sao Paulo, Figueiral this week had to patch her old bag with a plastic shopping bag.

Her attorney, Rodolfo Pettena Filho, praised the decision. "She is not a public menace prisoner. She is in a terminal stage of her disease and didn't deserve to die in prison, far from her family," he told the newspaper. "It was a fair and judicious decision, because justice must also be human and look at poor persons."

Brazil is the second largest consumer of cocaine behind the United States and has been riven by violent confrontation between drug "commandos" and law enforcement authorities. Brazil may have a cocaine problem, but Iolanda Figueiral isn't it, and now she will have the chance to die among her family and friends instead of behind bars.

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