Robinho lives in an 8-square-meter single cell and will live with 430 people in the future
In the early morning of March 23, Beijing time, the Associated Press, AFP and other media broke the news that former Brazilian international Robinho had started his nine-year prison sentence in Brazil. More than a decade has passed since he was first accused of rape in Italy. Subsequently, the famous British lace newspaper "The Sun" also published an article introducing the prison environment in which Robinho lived, satisfying many people's curiosity about the Brazilian prison nicknamed "hell on earth".
In January 2022, Italy's Court of Cassation upheld Robinho's nine-year prison sentence for alleging that the Brazilian had raped a 23-year-old Albanian girl in a Milan nightclub with friends in 2013. In July of the same year, Robinho announced his retirement. And on March 21 this year, judges of Brazil's High Court voted 9-2 to confirm the conviction of the former Real Madrid, Manchester City and Milan striker. The latter was imprisoned after failing to apply for an appeal period to remain free. He was held in the Tremembe prison, 150 kilometres from São Paulo.
According to The Sun, Robinho lived in an 8-square-meter single cell with only a bed, a small sink and a toilet built into the floor, as well as a small window with a fence. Not only is it guarded by guards, Robinho is examined by doctors, psychologists and social workers. In fact, judging from the environment alone, Robinho's treatment is not bad. However, this is only the beginning. Because after all the evaluations are completed, Robinho will be transferred to a regular cell, where 430 prisoners will eat and live with him for nine years.
Statistics show that the number of inmates in Brazilian prisons has exceeded 835,000 by the end of 2022, ranking third in the world, second only to China and the United States. This has also caused extremely congestion in Brazilian prisons, which are simply not available for inmates. Human Rights Watch has conducted surveys of Brazilian prisons and has concluded that in the state of São Paulo, prisoners are motivated by prison riots simply because they want to be in relatively larger cells.
So it's conceivable that what awaits Robinho will be an overcrowded prison environment full of violence, punishment and gang fighting. For the 40-year-old former Brazilian superstar, the ups and downs of his life from a football genius admired by thousands to a prisoner are expected to make him regret it. Of course, there are not a few Brazilian players like Robinho who have great football talent and get a lifetime of money that they can't spend but end up in prison for various reasons, Ronaldinho and Alves are vivid examples.
The lack of effective education and the low level of education are important reasons. This can cause them to become overwhelmed after having a huge amount of wealth, and then they will start to squander and gradually degenerate. Robinho has played for European giants such as Real Madrid, Manchester City and AC Milan in his career, and at the end of his career, he also joined the wealthy Guangzhou Evergrande.