The risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) while in prison is quite significant for the 580,000 inmates in Brazil 1, including those still awaiting trial (40% of the total), who are often kept in the same conditions as those already convicted. The incidence of active TB in the prison population is about twenty times higher than in the overall population (Brazilian Ministry of Health. Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação. http://dtr2004.saude.gov.br/sinanweb/tabnet/dh?sinannet/tuberculose/bases/tubercbrnet.def, accessed on 27/Feb/2015), and mass screening carried out in prisons of Southern and Southeastern regions of Brazil, where the characteristics of incarceration are similar to most prisons in the country, has shown that 5 to 10% of the inmates present an active TB.