A Content Analysis of Prison Websites: Exploring Approaches to Rehabilitation in Latin America

• Author: Deborah Koetzle,Samantha Barthelemy,Irina Fanarraga,Jeffrey Mellow
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X211010292
• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Date: 01 May 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211010292

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2022, Vol. 66(6-7) 718 –734

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X211010292

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Article

A Content Analysis of

Prison Websites: Exploring

Approaches to Rehabilitation

in Latin America

Irina Fanarraga1, Samantha Barthelemy1,

Deborah Koetzle1, and Jeffrey Mellow1

Abstract

Across much of Latin America, prison systems are characterized as having significantly

high incarceration and overcrowding rates. In recent years, some of these systems

have sought to address such problems by implementing rehabilitation and early

release programs. However, the extent to which rehabilitation has been embraced

and the nature of said efforts is not known. Using content analysis methods, this

exploratory study examines the existence of language supporting rehabilitative

practices and goals on official prison system websites across the region. While our

findings suggest that prison systems have largely embraced rehabilitative goals, there

is limited evidence to indicate that evidence-based practices are emphasized when it

comes to assessment and correctional programs. As countries embrace rehabilitative

efforts, it is important that they use empirically supported practices, as a perceived

failure of the rehabilitative approach could shift the pendulum away from treatment

and toward punishment. Implications for future research are discussed.

Keywords

Latin America, corrections, rehabilitation, assessment, evidence-based practices

Prison systems in Latin America are in crisis across the entire region (Programa de las

Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, 2013). While the world prison population has

experienced an average increase of 24% since the 2000s, South and Central American

prison systems have faced significantly larger increases: 175% and 67%, respectively

1John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Irina Fanarraga, Criminal Justice PhD Program, John Jay College of Criminal Justice/The Graduate Center,

CUNY, 524 West 59th Street 636 Haaren Hall, New York, NY 10019, USA.

Email: ifanarraga@jjay.cuny.edu

1010292IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X211010292International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyFanarraga et al.

research-article2021

Fanarraga et al. 719

(Walmsley, 2018). Incarceration rates are also higher than the international average

(145 per 100,000), with the median rate for South and Central American countries

being 316 and 233 per 100,000, respectively (Walmsley, 2018). In part, this can be

attributed to the high rates of pre-trial detainees held in prisons, which accounts for

over 50% of the prison population in three countries in the region (Paraguay, 78%;

Bolivia, 69%; and Uruguay, 69%). Across the region, only one country (Nicaragua)

has a pre-trial detention rate below 40 per 100,000 of the national population

(Walmsley, 2017). The growth in prison populations and incarceration rates has con-

tributed to the high rates of overcrowding throughout South and Central American

countries. With the exception of Suriname (75.20%), Belize (87.30%), and Mexico

(94.4%), all prison systems in Latin America experience overcrowding, with occu-

pancy rates ranging from 100.4% (Chile) to 357.6% (Guatemala) (World Prison

Brief, 2020). Even those that are operating below capacity are likely to face opera-

tional challenges, given that the effects of crowding begin to occur at 80% capacity

(Klofas et al., 1992).

Overcrowded prisons present a number of management difficulties, which can then

translate into violent episodes, strikes, riots, and escapes attempts, all of which are

common to prison systems in the region (Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el

Desarrollo, 2013). These events can affect the integrity and the safety not only of the

inmates, but also of the staff and any visitors, and can make it difficult for program-

ming or services to be offered. Prisons are regarded by local experts as “small crimi-

nogenic universes” that do not permit for the rehabilitation of inmates, but rather

increase their likelihood for recidivism once they are back in the community

(Macera, 2018).

Literature Review

Evidence-Based Rehabilitation and Assessment

Beginning in the early 1990s, after the perceived failure of the correctional control

strategy, prison systems began (re)embracing the rehabilitation and treatment of

offenders as one of their main institutional goals (MacKenzie & Lattimore, 2018).

Research has emphasized the importance of the evidence-based decision-making

model, in which policy choices are guided by relying on the best available scientific

evidence, to successfully develop, implement, and evaluate rehabilitative correc-

tional programs (MacKenzie, 2000; Sherman, 1998; Welsh & Farrington, 2011). The

existing evidence-base has identified a number of principles, namely risk, need, and

responsivity (RNR), related to effective correctional interventions. Within this

framework, programs seeking to reduce recidivism should utilize classification and

assessment systems that include dynamic and static risk factors, match treatment to

an inmate’s needs and risks, target criminogenic needs, utilize cognitive-behavioral

models, deliver services in a manner that matches each inmate’s abilities, and ensure

program fidelity (Andrews & Bonta, 2010; Bonta & Andrews, 2007; Desmarais &

Singh, 2013).