“In Brazil, about 52,000 incarcerated people were released at Christmas 2024 under an end-of-year temporary release program.”

The Senate news report says that Congress ended temporary release for prisoners in holidays and commemorative dates, and that the veto was overturned on May 28, 2024. It states that, after the veto override, the temporary-release benefit would remain only for semi-open regime prisoners who leave to attend vocational, high school, or university education. This is important context because it indicates that Christmas 2024 releases would still have been governed by the pre-existing rules for many prisoners with prior eligibility.

The technical note from the National Council of the Public Prosecutor’s Office analyses Law 14,843/2024 and its impacts. It explains that persons who began serving their sentences before 10 January 2024 maintain the acquired right to temporary leaves, while those convicted after that date no longer have the right to temporary releases for family visits and commemorative dates such as Christmas.

“Pouco mais de 52 mil presos deixaram a prisão na saidinha de Natal de 2023, que foi permitida em 17 das 27 unidades da federação, segundo dados levantados pelo g1 junto aos governos estaduais.” The article also says that 49,000 returned and 2,600 did not. This is a strong benchmark for the scale of the annual Christmas temporary-release program in Brazil.

A state prison administration body explains: "O indulto de natal é, na prática, o perdão da pena concedido aos presos no período natalino." It distinguishes this from temporary leave: "Diferentemente do saidão ou saída temporária, indulto natalino significa o ‘perdão da pena’, com sua consequente extinção, tendo em vista o cumprimento de alguns requisitos. Não é um direito previsto em lei, mas uma concessão dada voluntariamente pelo presidente da República para todos os condenados que se encontrem em determinada situação."

Discussing Lula’s 2023 decree, the article states: "O governo do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva publicou nesta segunda-feira (23) o decreto presidencial que concede o perdão a condenados, chamado de 'indulto natalino'." It explains: "O indulto de Natal é o perdão ou extinção da pena concedido a alguns detentos que atendam aos requisitos estabelecidos por um decreto do presidente da República." This again frames Christmas clemency (indulto) as selective pardon, not as a broad, automatic temporary release of tens of thousands of prisoners.

The legal news outlet notes: "O presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva assinou o decreto do indulto natalino de 2025 (decreto 12.790/25), que concede perdão de pena a pessoas presas que preencham critérios específicos." It adds: "Previsto na Constituição, o indulto natalino é editado anualmente pelo presidente da República e pode resultar no perdão total da pena ou na extinção da punibilidade, conforme os critérios definidos em decreto." This reinforces that the yearly Christmas measure is a constitutional pardon mechanism, not an automatic temporary release of all eligible prisoners.

“Mais de 46 mil detentos receberam o benefício da saída temporária de Natal em 2025, saindo dos presídios para passar o fim de ano em liberdade.” The article attributes the numbers to g1 and says the total corresponds to 6.5% of the prison population. It is relevant as a follow-up comparison showing the program continued with large annual numbers after the 2024 legal change.

According to a G1 survey, at Christmas 2023, of the just over 52,000 people benefited throughout the country, 95% returned to prison within the stipulated period. Between January and June 2024, the total number of abandonments was 6,055 cases out of 173,577 temporary releases, representing only 3.4% of the total.

Brazil's National Congress decisively voted on Tuesday to end temporary prisoner releases. These releases previously allowed prisoners to spend holidays such as Christmas and Mother's Day with their families. The law, approved in early 2024, abolishes furloughs for family visits and leisure, maintaining the benefit only for work and study, and applies to people convicted after January 10, 2024.

The so‑called ‘saidinha’ allowed prisoners in the semi-open regime, who met legal requirements, to leave on commemorative dates such as Mother’s Day, Christmas and New Year. With Law 14,843/2024, temporary leaves for these dates were abolished for new convicts, remaining only for work and study. Those already serving sentences before the law keep the benefit under the previous rules.

The temporary release of prisoners, provided for in the Prison Sentence Enforcement Law, is surrounded by myths that heighten the feeling of insecurity and distort the public debate. According to official data, only about 5% of the prison population benefited from temporary releases in 2018 – about 34,000 people nationwide – and the evasion rate is low, with approximately 4% failing to return.

The broadcast states that in São Paulo alone, about 32,000 inmates would have the right to temporary release during the Christmas period, and it notes that a new law restricted family-visit releases but applied only to convictions after it entered into force. The segment supports the broader idea that year-end temporary releases remained in effect for some inmates despite the 2024 legal change.

A bill recently approved in the Brazilian Congress, which still awaits President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s sanction, aims at extinguishing the right of certain groups of inmates to temporarily leave prisons during holidays. The temporary release is granted for seven subsequent days, five times a year, during holidays like Mothers’ Day and Christmas. Since 2018, only five percent of the prison population in Brazil was allowed to temporarily leave the prisons, which is about 34,000 convicts.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed his traditional Christmas pardon decree, granting clemency to thousands of inmates. The measure applies to individuals over 60, paraplegics, those with terminal illnesses or severe autism, mothers and caregivers, pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies, or parents who are the sole providers for children with severe disabilities or children under 16. Additionally, it targets first-time offenders sentenced to less than eight years who have already served one-fifth of their term. The decree expressly excludes crimes against democracy, heinous crimes, terrorism, drug trafficking, sexual assault, crimes involving violence against women, leaders of criminal factions, inmates held in maximum-security facilities, and corrupt officials involved in money laundering or serious public administration corruption.

Brazil's holiday temporary-release program historically allowed eligible semi-open regime prisoners short releases around Christmas and other dates. In 2024, Congress changed the law to restrict holiday/family-visit releases, but because criminal law changes generally do not retroactively worsen punishment, some prisoners sentenced before the change could still be covered by prior rules in late 2024.

In this report, officials and commentators discuss a bill to restrict or end the so-called 'saidinha' that allows prisoners short releases around holidays like Christmas. The piece focuses on cases from Christmas 2023, when tens of thousands of inmates were allowed out and a small fraction committed crimes, but it does not cite a national statistic for Christmas 2024.

In a newscast about the 2025 decree, the presenter explains: "Renato, o indulto de Natal é uma prerrogativa, né, que a Constituição dá ao presidente da República, permitindo perdoar parte ou todo a pena dos condenados no sistema prisional brasileiro ou reduzir, né, as sentenças, desde que cumpram alguns critérios, né, definidos nesse decreto presidencial." Later the report describes specific requirements like serving a fraction of the sentence. The segment addresses indulto (pardon), not the separate temporary release program that allowed about 52,000 semi‑open regime inmates to leave prison at Christmas 2023.