Copy of "Os Lusíadas" dedicated to Alzira Vargas

Luis de Camões (1524?–1580). The Lusiads. Porto: Typograpia Giesecke & Devrient, 1880. [6], XCII, 375p., il.; 40 cm.

Dedication on the home page: Alzirinha. Wanting to mark the visit of your good father to this prison, as he was the only Head of the Nation who, in the forty-five years of the Republic, visited this penitentiary, I offer you this book that will remind you of days that are far to come. this passage for us so auspicious. House of Correction, Rio, 24 June 1935 Major Nunes Filho.

Although the idea of ​​a penitentiary system in Brazil dates back to the Casa de Correção da Corte, created through the Royal Charter of July 8, 1769, it was only in 1834 that the construction of this system began. It was a public establishment, under the penitentiary regime, destined to serve the cell prison sentence, with work imposed on the convict. In 1941, Decree-Law No. 3,971 transformed the Casa de Correção into the Central Penitentiary of the Federal District. During the Vargas Era, it was one of the main incarceration centers for detainees and political prisoners. According to Regina Célia Pedroso, after 1930 there was an overpopulation of cells and tuberculosis proliferated, with lung diseases being the major cause of death. Other prisons were similarly inadequate.