Carandiru Penitentiary was a prison located in São Paulo , Brazil . The prison was designed and built by Samuel das Neves in 1920 , when it was considered a model-prison to meet the new demands of the 1890 criminal code . It was operational from 1956 to 2002 and , at its peak , was South America 's largest penitentiary , housing over 8,000 inmates . In 1992 it was the site of the Carandiru massacre
Carandiru massacre
Carandiru massacre
Carandiru Penitentiary