Most people have no idea what it's like to be in prison, and it's certainly a place no individual would want to be. Brazil has the world's fourth largest prison population and every day more and more violence occurs within prison walls. To make matters worse, violence within prison facilities has led to an increase in violence outside of prisons. Overcrowding, limited resources, gangs, etc. they are contributing factors to what has led to this prison anarchy. People around the world have only just begun to hear about the violence in Brazilian prisons, yet it has been going on for years. Brazil, the country that will host the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, is in a state of violent and gruesome prison crisis. This article will present the historical context of the problem, the reasons why the Brazilian prison system is violent/overcrowded, and discuss how the government intends to help solve the problem. To understand what is currently happening in Brazil, it is necessary to dig into history. . Around 1693 slave catchers in São Paulo, Brazil found "lead-colored flakes of heavy metal near the headwaters of the San Francisco River." When they smelted the metal the men noticed that it was gold and within a few years there was a gold rush in Brazil, in the state of Minas Gerais. The gold rush and coffee plantations later fueled the slave trade, revenue, and created the large cities we know today in Brazil. Since then, Brazilians have undergone a process of urbanization and have left the countryside towards the Northeast in search of a better life. Especially during the 1940s urbanization began to occur, with people flocking to the city in search of work and creating "favelas" on the edges of the city (which...... middle of paper ...... ACLA Report On The Americas 35.2 (2001): 8. Academic research completed March 10, 2014. Scheper-Hughes, Nancy Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil: University of California, 1992. Print.Soares, Marcelo, and Patrick J. McDonnel. "Sao Paulo terrorized by attacks by gangs/leaders in raids directed against authorities SFGate, 22 May 2006. Web. 10 March 2014. The Senate Human Rights Commission during its restricted visit to Pedrinhas on 13 January 2014. L 'Office of Senator Ana Rita, Pedrinhas Web. WOUK ALMINO, ELISA "Brazil's prison problem." March 10. 2014.