Prisão domiciliar X condições de saúde: uma análise a partir das decisões do STJ durante a pandemia da covid-19

Abstract

The public health crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic intensified debates over virus transmission within prisons. To address these challenges, the National Justice Council (CNJ) issued Recommendation No. 62, which outlined various preventive measures for courts and judges to consider. Accordingly, this study aimed to characterize the granting of house arrest in decisions by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), based on the health conditions of detainees during the pandemic. This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study with a quantitative methodological approach, analyzing cases available on the STJ’s website. To understand variable distributions and identify significant patterns, the Chi-square test of independence was used. The elapsed time in days between the date of the final decision and the date of filing was calculated, and data normality was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test. The analysis of 84 house arrest (HA) cases in the STJ underscored the importance of health conditions in judicial decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Most applicants were male (88.1%) and under 60 years old (72.7%), with 57.1% presenting risk factors, and life-threatening risks cited in 41.7% of cases. The majority of injunctions were denied (69%), with 11.9% fully granted and 14.3% partially granted. Medical reports, present in 75% of cases and predominantly issued by private institutions, positively influenced outcomes. While the risk of Covid-19 infection was the most common justification, it showed no statistically significant association. However, respiratory illnesses, such as tuberculosis, were statistically significant in partial grants. The average case processing time was 92 days for non-elderly applicants and 62 days for the elderly, no relevant difference for statistics.