L33731
11-28-2005, 12:58 PM
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - An Angolan won Brazil's marquee prison beauty pageant, beating a troupe of contestants born in a country where people are deadly serious about looking good, even in its notorious jails.
Angelica Mazua, 23, was the choice of the judging panel that featured plastic surgeons, entertainers and athletes regarded as heartthrobs.
Inmates from 10 prisons competed in the Thursday night event in Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous and cosmopolitan state.
Prisoners in the audience swarmed stars like the soccer striker Grafite and danced with celebrities as bands played samba and pagode. Near the stage, guards armed with shotguns and dogs patrolled along a walkway between a chain-link fence and a concrete wall topped with razor wire.
Finalists in the categories of beauty, poetry, prose and congeniality had their nails, hair and makeup done by a nonprofit group that provides make-overs to underprivileged women. Female prison guards also helped out.
Many contestants wore donated evening gowns and talked about how the experience gave them a renewed sense of self-respect.
Locked up four months ago after police found cocaine in her bags as she boarded a plane to Africa, 5-foot-10-inch (1.79-metres) tall Mazua is awaiting trial and says an acquaintance tricked her into carrying the drug.
She counts top supermodel Gisele Bundchen, a blond Brazilian, among her idols.
"I like fashion. It's what I want to do," Mazua said, a faux jeweled crown with red flashing lights perched on her head.
Asked if she would call her parents to tell them she won, she said, "There's no telephone here."
PRISONS TRANSFORMED
Though the prisons offer few amenities, Sao Paulo has transformed its penal system since 1992, when police killed 111 men in Carandiru, then Latin America's largest prison, to quash an uprising. The massacre caused an international outcry and stained Brazil's human rights record less than a decade after military rule ended.
The state has razed the prison, built dozens of small jails in other towns in its place, and started hundreds of new education and job programs for inmates to earn money and support their families. Riots and escapes have declined.
The competition, at Capital Women's Penitentiary, was held just blocks from the site of the Carandiru rebellion. Rita Cadillac, a TV star who became famous performing burlesque shows at Carandiru, was one of the judges.
Karla Meneses, serving time for kidnapping, won first prize for prose for a piece doubting society will give her a second chance once she leaves prison. Marcia Santana Santos, a convicted armed robber with an enormous smile, won for congeniality.
Top prize for each category was 360 reais. Second and third places won smaller cash awards.
"This event is a day that makes us feel human again, instead of like animals, which is how society sees us," said Valterlandia Lisboa, 42, who competed with a poem she wrote while serving a nine-year sentence for kidnapping.
Angelica Mazua, 23, was the choice of the judging panel that featured plastic surgeons, entertainers and athletes regarded as heartthrobs.
Inmates from 10 prisons competed in the Thursday night event in Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous and cosmopolitan state.
Prisoners in the audience swarmed stars like the soccer striker Grafite and danced with celebrities as bands played samba and pagode. Near the stage, guards armed with shotguns and dogs patrolled along a walkway between a chain-link fence and a concrete wall topped with razor wire.
Finalists in the categories of beauty, poetry, prose and congeniality had their nails, hair and makeup done by a nonprofit group that provides make-overs to underprivileged women. Female prison guards also helped out.
Many contestants wore donated evening gowns and talked about how the experience gave them a renewed sense of self-respect.
Locked up four months ago after police found cocaine in her bags as she boarded a plane to Africa, 5-foot-10-inch (1.79-metres) tall Mazua is awaiting trial and says an acquaintance tricked her into carrying the drug.
She counts top supermodel Gisele Bundchen, a blond Brazilian, among her idols.
"I like fashion. It's what I want to do," Mazua said, a faux jeweled crown with red flashing lights perched on her head.
Asked if she would call her parents to tell them she won, she said, "There's no telephone here."
PRISONS TRANSFORMED
Though the prisons offer few amenities, Sao Paulo has transformed its penal system since 1992, when police killed 111 men in Carandiru, then Latin America's largest prison, to quash an uprising. The massacre caused an international outcry and stained Brazil's human rights record less than a decade after military rule ended.
The state has razed the prison, built dozens of small jails in other towns in its place, and started hundreds of new education and job programs for inmates to earn money and support their families. Riots and escapes have declined.
The competition, at Capital Women's Penitentiary, was held just blocks from the site of the Carandiru rebellion. Rita Cadillac, a TV star who became famous performing burlesque shows at Carandiru, was one of the judges.
Karla Meneses, serving time for kidnapping, won first prize for prose for a piece doubting society will give her a second chance once she leaves prison. Marcia Santana Santos, a convicted armed robber with an enormous smile, won for congeniality.
Top prize for each category was 360 reais. Second and third places won smaller cash awards.
"This event is a day that makes us feel human again, instead of like animals, which is how society sees us," said Valterlandia Lisboa, 42, who competed with a poem she wrote while serving a nine-year sentence for kidnapping.