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A World Cup soccer stadium that is being built in the isolated Brazilian state of Amazonas may not become a white elephant after all.
At least one judge in the area has come up with a post-World Cup use: a processing centre for prisoners.
Brazil is readying 12 stadiums for next year's World Cup, and several - including the new stadium in Manaus - will be little used after the tournament.
Fifa and Brazilian officials were the subject of widespread protests three months ago during the Confederations Cup, a warm-up for the World Cup.
Millions took to the streets to protest at spending billions on sports events in a country with poor public services, high taxes and stark social inequality.
Alvaro Corado, a spokesman for the Amazonas state court system, said that Judge Sabino Marques had proposed a novel idea.
"He would, perhaps, suggest to the government of the state of Amazonas that the stadium be used as a processing centre for prisoners after the World Cup," Corado said, quoting Marques.
Marques is also the president of a group that monitors the prison system in the state.
The new 44,000-seat stadium in Manaus, being built at a cost of US$275 million, will host only four World Cup matches. The city of 2.3 million has no team in Brazil's first or second division, and little football tradition.
The potential for building white elephants is similar for three other new stadiums: in the capital Brasilia, in Cuiaba in the southwest, and in Natal in the northeast.
Fifa requires only eight stadiums for the World Cup, but Brazil decided to have 12 - under pressure from politicians who used the construction projects to provide jobs and political loyalty.


World Cup soccer stadium in Brazil may be used to process prisoners

Arena da Amazonia stadium under construction in Manaus, Brazil. Photo: AP

Sport

Football

A World Cup soccer stadium that is being built in the isolated Brazilian state of Amazonas may not become a white elephant after all. At least one judge in the area has come up with a post-World Cup use: a processing centre for prisoners.
