Imprisonment and Human Rights in Latin America: An Introduction

• Published date: 01 January 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0032885517743442
• Author: Francisco Javier de Leon Villalba
• Date: 01 January 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885517743442

The Prison Journal

2018, Vol. 98(1) 17 –39

© 2017 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0032885517743442

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Article

Imprisonment and

Human Rights in

Latin America: An

Introduction

Francisco Javier de Leon Villalba1

Abstract

This article reflects on Latin American prisoners’ human rights to give an

up-to-date picture of the state of play and to establish the benchmarks on

how this issue can be approached in future research activities. In an attempt

to establish methodological guidelines for approaching the Latin American

context, the article contextualizes Latin American prisoner human rights

standards within the inter-American system of human rights. Then, it

addresses three key issues that have a direct impact on the treatment of

prisoners and the most important problems in Latin American prisons.

Keywords

inter-American prisoner human rights system, human rights standards, Latin

American prison systems

Introduction

The protection of human rights in the prison environment is one of the most

important human rights problems in Latin America that remains currently

unresolved (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights [IACHR], 2011;

Carranza, 2012). Reforms of Latin American legal systems, including the

legislative reforms of national prison laws, and the financial efforts made by

1University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain

Corresponding Author:

Francisco Javier de Leon Villalba, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 44 Avenida de los Alfares,

17091 Cuenca, Spain.

Email: FcoJavier.Leon@uclm.es

743442TPJXXX10.1177/0032885517743442The Prison Journalde Leon Villalba

research-article2017

18 The Prison Journal 98(1)

Latin American States in recent years to improve prison systems have not

been enough to make the breakthrough needed (Benito Durá, 2009). Indeed,

the human rights problem in Latin American prisons requires greater efforts

on the part of the States, which become the guarantors of the persons deprived

of liberty as will be discussed below. The article also calls for an in-depth

reflection on the root causes of the current situation.

Economic and social inequality, poverty, and social violence are some of

the structural factors directly linked to the human rights violations in Latin

American societies. The social dynamics generated by these factors are also

projected into the prison field in such a way that many of the human rights

problems taking place in prisons also happen outside (violence; insecurity;

lack of access to food, water, decent living conditions, education, work,

health system, etc.). This is why the human rights problem in Latin American

prisons cannot be viewed in isolation; they are part of the broader human

rights issue in the region. From this point of view, the idea that human beings

have inherent and inviolable human rights stemming from the recognition of

human dignity and that situations of deprivation of liberty cannot limit this

set of rights takes on its full meaning. In other words, as long as Latin

American citizens’ human rights are not properly protected, which implies

the consolidation of democracy and correlatively the consolidation of human

rights standards (United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], 2004),

the protection of prisoners’ human rights will remain a challenge for Latin

American States. On the contrary, the situation underlying the discussion of

how best to protect prisoners’ rights necessarily modifies how scholars should

analyze the reality of Latin American prisons.

With this in mind, this article reflects on prisoners’ human rights in Latin

America to give an up-to-date picture of the state of play and to establish the

benchmarks on how this issue can be approached in future research activities.

That is, this article not only addresses prisoners’ situation in Latin America

but also tries to establish the methodological guidelines for approaching the

Latin American context. In this regard, it is worth stressing that this issue has

not been studied specifically. This is in contrast to what has happened in the

European context, where there has been increasing attention to prisoners’

human rights from a regional point of view (as an example, see Morgan &

Evans, 1999; Murdoch, 2006; Van Zyl Smit & Snacken, 2009). Accordingly,

the article first contextualizes prisoners’ human rights in Latin America

within the Inter-American Human Rights System. Next, it makes a reference

to the Principles and Best Practices on the Protection of Persons Deprived of

Liberty in the Americas, a soft-law instrument establishing the regional

human rights standards of persons deprived of their liberty. The article also

places the discussion of the emerging general principles of Latin America