Brazil federal prisons: spending rise & labor growth 2026

Brazil’s federal penitentiary system continues to allocate expanding resources to both security and rehabilitation. Expenditure to house gang‑linked inmates reached a record R$279.3 million in 2025, with the average annual cost per gang leader rising to R$46,462.44 – up from R$25,256.83 in 2020. Total system spending grew from R$191.9 million in 2021 to the 2025 peak, and the first two months of 2026 have already accounted for R$51.9 million. The system now detains 461 gang‑affiliated prisoners, including 159 regional or national leaders, across five maximum‑security facilities that keep inmates separated by faction, a practice credited with preventing homicides or rebellions.

Labor participation is also accelerating, particularly in Goiás. Between the second half of 2024 and the same period in 2025, inmate workers rose 61 % to 6,184, raising the share of prisoners in work from 12.7 % to 20.7 %. External work slots more than doubled (1,037 to 2,712 participants) while internal slots grew 24 % (2,795 to 3,472). By the end of 2025, 79 of Goiás’s 81 facilities (97.5 %) offered at least one labour opportunity, the fourth‑largest coverage rate in Brazil and well above the national average of 88.4 %. Public‑private and public‑sector partnerships expanded, with joint programme participants increasing from 194 to 594 and private‑sector participants from 314 to 609.

Together, these trends show a federal system that is intensifying financial investment in high‑profile gang detainees while broadening and diversifying inmate‑work programmes.