Insights From New Studies on Violence in Latin American Prisons

• DOI: 10.1177/1057567719896160
• Author: Marcelo Bergman
• Published date: 01 March 2020
• Date: 01 March 2020
• Subject Matter: Foreword

Foreword

Insights From New Studies

on Violence in Latin

American Prisons

Marcelo Bergman

1

This collection of papers is part of a rich and emerging literature on prisons in Latin America and

constitutes a new wave of empirical studies devoted to one of the most salient crises the region is

facing: mass incarceration. As such, ICJR is contributing to unpacking a set of largely understudied

topics, and that will surely contribute to further research and draw lessons on how to engage with

several unique characteristic s of Latin America and the Caribbe an (LAC) prisons in search of

answers to this acute crisis.

Latin America and the Caribbean countries have at least doubled the number of inmates over the

last 20 years and, as the Limoncelli et al. paper shows, grew at a regional pace of 2.3%per year. In

some countries, there was even a 3-fold increase in the number of prisoners, and the trend does not

seem to abate. This large growth in the number of prisoners has contributed to overcrowding, to

declining health conditions and reduced vocational training services, larger drug abuse problems,

and numerous other negative externalities. One of the most severe unintentional consequences of

this growth in incarceration has been the rising level of violence inside prisons. In this special issue,

the reader will be able to examine the scope and nature of such narratives of violence. Ariza and

Iturralde examine the causes and consequences of changing patterns of carceral violence.

Latin American and Caribbean prisons have distinct features as they compared to North Amer-

ican or European countries. Despite budget increases, larger recruit ment of personnel, and the

construction of new facilities, the penitentiary systems remain chronically underfunded, while old

and deteriorated facilities house larger cohorts of new admissions, and as opposed to most places in

the Global North, very high pretrial detention rates and high turnover of people passing through the

system. This has important social effects because the stock of inmates at a given time hides the real

number of individuals who have been behind bars over the last decades. As more people are

incarcerated, they can develop allegiance with gangs inside and outside prisons. New studies (such

as the ones offered here by Gundur, by Weegles, and by Peirce and Fondevila) showcase in rich

detail the new patterns of violence that have developed in Latin American prisons.

In general, the five articles in this special issue present significant innovations for Latin American

prisons’ studies, as well as some lessons for scholarship on penitentiary systems in the Global North.

1

Universidad Tres de Febrero, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Corresponding Author:

Marcelo Bergman, Universidad Tres de Febrero, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Email: mbergman@untref.edu.ar

International CriminalJustice Review

2020, Vol. 30(1) 5-7

ª2019 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/1057567719896160

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