Brazil's courts have helped 911,000 people in custody get identity documents
A national programme trains justice workers to register prisoners and young offenders, so they can vote, work and claim benefits when they leave.
Brazil's National Council of Justice (CNJ) has trained 4,637 professionals in the latest online cycle of a programme on civil identification for people in prison and young people under court-ordered measures, Biometric Update reported.
The two-day course had seven modules, covering identification at custody hearings, voter registration, issuing national identity cards, regularising the CPF taxpayer number and collecting biometrics. Since 2023 six cycles have reached more than 29,000 participants.
The scale so far
The wider identification programme now runs nationwide. More than 911,000 people have been identified and 847,000 documents issued or located, through a network of more than 150 institutions. It is part of the Pena Justa plan and the Juvenile Justice Agenda, with technical support from the Fazendo Justiça programme.
Some results are practical and immediate. In Mato Grosso do Sul, the SERPJud platform now issues birth certificates in 24 hours instead of two months. In Paraíba, the training has supported the introduction of biometric identification procedures.
Judge Ricardo Alexandre da Silva Costa said the training consolidates identification processes across states, and coordinator Luís Lanfredi pointed to strong demand to improve services. The CNJ argues that having documents is a condition for social inclusion: without them, a person leaving custody cannot easily open a bank account, take a formal job or receive benefits.
Inside a larger identity system
The justice programme sits within Brazil's broader biometric infrastructure. Serpro, the state-owned data processing service, runs major federal identity systems, including a facial database that has grown to 376 million images, more than the country's population because of duplicate records.
It is a reminder that the people most often missing from digital identity systems are those the state already holds. Reaching them through the courts is unglamorous work, and it is where inclusion is decided.
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