Robinho’s life in Brazilian prison: the food, clothing and other items he’s allowed

Former soccer player Robinho is now an inmate at São Paulo’s Tremembé prison, having begun a jail sentence for rape last week.

The ex-Brazil international was detained and taken to prison by Brazilian authorities on Thursday, after a court in the South American country ordered him to serve the nine-year term handed down by the Italian justice system in 2017.

Convicted of raping woman in Italy 11 years ago

Along with five other males, the 40-year-old was convicted of participating in the gang rape of a 22-year-old Albanian woman at a Milan nightclub in 2013.

Having been used to the luxury existence enjoyed by professional soccer players - his net worth is estimated at around $60 million - Robinho must now learn to live under rather less salubrious conditions. Indeed, Brazil’s prisons are widely described as “hell on earth”.

We take a look at some of the limitations he’ll have to endure at the Tremembé prison:

Clothes Robinho is allowed

- Up to two pairs of low-soled shoes

- Up to two pairs of thin-soled flip-flops with simple rubber straps

- Two pairs of elasticated shorts in beige/khaki (no buttons, zippers or drawstring)

- Two cold-weather tops in beige/khaki (no hood, zipper or pockets)

- Two pairs of elasticated trousers in beige/khaki (no pockets)

- Two white, round-necked T-shirts with short sleeves

- One white, round-necked T-shirt with long sleeves

- Five changes of underwear

Food Robinho can receive from outside prison

- 500 g of sponge cake with no filling or alcoholic content

- 500 g of sliced bread

- 500 g of cookies with no filling or alcoholic content

- 500 g of transparent candy with no filling or alcoholic content

- 500 g of powdered milk

- 300 g of candy bars

- 250 g of butter or margarine

- 100 g of condiments

Personal hygiene items he’s allowed

- Two disposable razors with hollow plastic handles

- One plastic tube of toothpaste (up to 90 g)

- Two bars of soap

- A toothbrush

- A stick, roll-on or cream deodorant

- A plastic tube of shaving foam

- One bottle of shampoo (transparent and up to 500 ml)

- One bottle of conditioner (transparent and up to 500 ml)

- One roll of dental floss

- One box of cotton swabs (with up to 75 units)

- One bottle of mouthwash (up to 250 ml)

- One bottle of sunscreen (up to 200 ml)

- One sponge for bathing

- One 250 ml container of moisturising cream

According to Brazil’s Prison Administration Department (SAP), these items can only be given to inmates once a week, either in person or by post.

“Overcrowded” Brazil prisons a “disaster”

Robinho, who remains under supervision and is not yet allowed visitors, is now in the hands of a prison system described by Human Rights Watch as a “human-rights disaster”.

With around 600,000 inmates in a national prison network designed to hold some 380,000, prisoners in Brazil “are routinely held in overcrowded, violent, and disease-ridden cells”, the organisation says.

Human Rights Watch also warns of Brazilian prisons where control has been handed over to so-called “keyholders” - inmates, mostly belonging to organised gangs, who have literally been given the keys to the insides of the institution. These inmates “sell drugs and sleeping space to fellow detainees, and deploy violent ‘militias’ to enforce their rule,” HRW says.