Robinho’s Christmas celebrations will have looked markedly different from those of other high-profile footballers, given that he is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence.
The disgraced former Manchester City and Real Madrid star was convicted of rape after a trial at an Italian court in 2017, with a court hearing that he, along with five other men, participated in the gang rape of an Albanian woman in a Milanese nightclub four years prior.
However, as a result of legal battles and appeals, the 40-year-old – real name Robson de Souza – was only incarcerated in March 2024 and was sent to Sao Paulo’s notorious Tremembe prison complex, which is home to celebrity murderers and rapists.
Dubbed the ‘prison of the famous’ due to its population of high-profile criminals, many inmates were released over the Christmas period to spend time with family.
However, Robinho didn’t qualify for leave and was forced to spend the period behind bars in Brazil. It’s a staggering fall from grace for the former forward, who hoisted two La Liga titles with Real Madrid and a Serie A trophy with AC Milan before Mark Hughes convinced the City board to bring him to the Etihad for £32.5million in 2008.
Robinho married his wife, Vivian Guglielminetti the following year, and the couple welcomed three children into the world. However, the disgraced footballer will only see his family during visitation, instead spending the brunt of his time with a number of other criminals.
Among fellow inmates at the Tremembe – formerly known as the Penitentiary II Doctor José Augusto César Salgado, or P2 – is Lindemberg Alves, who was sentenced to 98 years and ten months in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Eloa Cristina, in 2008 following a 100-hour stand-off with the police.
However, Brazilian law caps actual time served at 30 years. Meanwhile, Cristian Cravinhos is also serving a 38-year sentence for the brutal murder of husband and wife Mandred and Marisia von Richthofen in 2002.
Cravinhos and his brother, Daniel, were recruited to execute the married couple by their daughter, Suzane von Richthofen, who hoped to cash in on an inheritance windfall in the wake of her parents’ murder.
Daniel was said to have been dating Suzane at the time. In a book about the murder of the Von Richthofens, journalist Ullisses Campbell detailed that inmates of the men’s section of the Tremembe had come up with a unique version of the popular dating app Tinder to connect with female prisoners who were situated 5km away.
The inmates would send full-length photographs of themselves via visitors, as well as letters which were screened and read aloud by members of prison security. Many household names across Brazil have served time at the notorious prison over the years, including doctor Roger Abdelmassih, ex-senator Luiz Estevao, and journalist Antonio Marcos Pimenta das Neves.
While the complex doesn’t house gang leaders with endeavours of lowering the chance of violence, among the 430 inmates of the prison include those involved in high-profile crimes, politicians, doctors and security force agents. Inmates are forced to cram into cells which vary between eight and 15 metres, with up to six housed in the larger cells of the prison.
