The Brazilian government announced Wednesday an investment of 1.2 billion reals (365 million U.S. dollars) in the construction and modernization of the country's prison system.

The investment will come from the National Penal Fund and be released to the state governments to allocate.

According to presidency spokesperson Alexandre Parola, the investment is "the greatest ever made in the prison system in Brazil."

The government said 799 million reals (243.7 million dollars) will be invested in the construction of new prisons so as to relieve the crowdedness in current prisons, and 321 million reals (97.9 million dollars) to improve service and purchase new equipments such as visitor scanners.

Brazil's jails, notorious for its crowdedness and poor living conditions of prisoners, have often caused criticism from international organizations.

"The release of these resources will ... not only modernize our prison system but also make it more humane," Parola said.

source: Xinhua