Heidi Ann Cerneka, a U.S. Maryknoll lay missionary who works with the Brazilian bishops' Prison Pastoral Office, gestures during a Feb. 28 interview with a Catholic News Service reporter in Washington. On March 1 Cerneka gave testimony on conditions in Brazilian prisons for women to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington. (CNS/Bob Roller)

Heidi Ann Cerneka, a U.S. Maryknoll lay missionary who works with the Brazilian bishops’ Prison Pastoral Office, gestures during a Feb. 28 interview with a Catholic News Service reporter in Washington. On March 1 Cerneka gave testimony on conditions in Brazilian prisons for women to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington. (CNS/Bob Roller)