Haroldo Caetano releases book on 1996 Cepaigo prison rebellion

Prosecutor Haroldo Caetano has released a new book titled ‘A rebelião’ (The Rebellion), which recounts his experience as a hostage during a violent riot at the Centro Penitenciário de Atividades Industriais de Goiás (Cepaigo) in March 1996. The event, led by inmate Leonardo Pareja, exposed significant security failures within the state prison system.

Caetano utilized the digital newspaper archives at the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de Goiás (IHGG) to conduct extensive research, cross-referencing historical reports, television archives, and official publications to ensure historical accuracy. The book, published by Editora Jandaira, serves as both a personal memoir and an analysis of the structural crises within the Brazilian prison system.

The work was officially delivered to the Biblioteca Irmãos Oriente at the IHGG on Wednesday. Caetano, a specialist in criminal law and mental health, describes the book as a testimony to violence, power, and survival, noting that the memories of the tension-filled period remain strikingly clear.