The Prison Situation in the Americas:
Challenges and Strategy
Department of Public Security
3 December 2015
INTRODUCTION
• Different theories regarding the purpose of punishment:
• Retribution theories
• Deterrent theories
• Rehabilitation theories
• Incapacitation theories
• Inter-American system: “In essential meaning of punishment is primarily to
achieve the social reinsertion of inmates and their re-adaptation to their families
and communities, and to reflect the seriousness of the crime, promote respect for
the law, and promote a fair sentence for the offense committed.” (Second
Meeting of Officials Responsible for the Penitentiary and Prison Policies of the
OAS Member States)
INTRODUCTION
• Consensus and adoption of principles and best practices on implementation of
the sentence of deprivation of liberty in countries on a global basis:
1. UN Minimum Rules on Treatment of Prisoners
2. United Nations Minimum Rules on Non-Custodial Measures (Tokyo
Rules)
3. United Nations Rules for Treatment of Prisoners and Non-Custodial
Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules)
4. American Convention on Human Rights
5. Principles and Best Practices on Protection of Persons Deprived of
Liberty in the Americas (IACHR)
6. Other international documents
• Model “based on the fundamental principle that the State is in a special
position as guarantor when it comes to persons deprived of liberty, and as such, it
assumes specific duties to respect and guarantee the fundamental rights of these
persons” (IACHR: Report on the Human Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty in
the Americas, para. 8)
INTRODUCTION
•
Regardless of the underlying theory or model, prison systems in the region are
faced with common and relatively homogeneous problems.
•
The increase in crime, and the repressive policies that arose in response to it,
created new challenges for prison systems, whose shortcomings have grown in scale
and seriousness to such an extent that they have turned into a humanitarian problem
in a large part of the region.
•
Prison systems are currently faced with many problems and challenges, which can
be grouped into seven main areas:
1. Overcrowding
2. Precariousness of the quality of life of persons deprived of liberty
3. Absence of rehabilitation and social reinsertion programs
4. Inadequacy and/or lack of training of prison personnel
5. Lack of comprehensive public policies
6. Weak gender-based policies
7. Problems in measuring the prison situation.
OVERPOPULATION
• Between 2000 and 2010, the prison population increased by 30% in the
Hemisphere as a result of various factors:
- increased sentences
- increased use of preventive detention
- rise in crimes
• Excessive use of preventive detention: in 14 of the 34 member states, the
majority of the prison population is not serving a sentence, but is in preventive
detention.
• The excessive use of preventive detention:
- Causes overcrowding
- Violates the principles of the rule of law, based on the assumption of
innocence of persons held for trial
- Violates the rights of persons deprived of liberty and held for prolonged
periods of time without having been convicted
OVERPOPULATION
• The expansion of the number of persons in prison was not accompanied by a
policy to invest in and overhaul prison systems; this has resulted in critical
overpopulation rates in the Americas:
- 149.9% in the Hemisphere
- 179% in Central America
- 137% in the Caribbean
- 157% in South America
- 108% in North America
• Various countries have overpopulation rates of more than 200%, and up to
300%
• Negative effects of overcrowding:
- violation of the basic rights of the persons deprived of liberty
- deterioration of the infrastructure and sanitary conditions in prison
compounds
- precarious quality of life of inmates
- high rate of violence in prisons
- little access to rehabilitation and social reinsertion programs
PRECARIOUSNESS OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF
INMATES
Many prisons in the Hemisphere do not comply with the minimum standards of
decency and quality for prisoners, whose quality of life is negatively affected by:
- Overcrowding
- Violence within prisons
- Poor sanitary conditions and precarious infrastructure of prisons
- Scarcity of food and medicines
- Presence of organized criminal groups
- Extortion, sexual abuse, and physical and mental torture.
Violence inside prisons leads to a large number of conflicts among the inmates
and between them and prison staff. Various factors contribute to the high
incidence of this phenomenon:
- overcrowding
- disputes over limited space and resources in the prisons
- failure to classify and separate inmates
- Idle time and lack of productive activities for prisoners
- Incarceration of members of organized criminal groups
PRECARIOUSNESS OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF
INMATES
• Insufficient resources and investments, and the use of grounds and
buildings that were not originally designed for the purpose
• Failure to observe the minimum rights of inmates: housed in crowded
spaces with no ventilation or natural light and in collective and unhealthy
cells, without adequate sanitary services, without adequate medical care,
with limited, poor-quality food, and with few areas for engaging in sports
or educational activities.
• The precariousness of prison systems is frequently also reflected in the
living conditions of prison staff, who must work in unhealthy
environments, with minimum security, and without the tools needed to
perform their work efficiently.
ABSENCE OF REHABILITATION AND SOCIAL REINSERTION
PROGRAMS FOR PRISONERS
• Prison systems in member states are not oriented in practice to ensuring
the rehabilitation and social reinsertion of prisoners
• It is difficult to find programs that are designed to accommodate specific
criminogenic factors, and that can be monitored and evaluated
• Most of the budget is allocated for human resources, especially for prison
officers responsible for security in the prisons, and for food expenses.
• Failings in the public policy for assisting and monitoring inmates after they
are released
• To date there are no programs for systematic and rigorous measurement
of recidivism.
INADEQUACY OF PRISON STAFF AND LACK OF TRAINING
• In some countries correctional officers have not been trained for a career
in the prison system, and have not received appropriate and ongoing
training; career training for correctional officers is required to ensure
stability, periodic advanced training, and a decent salary for prison staff;
its absence is conducive to corruption and abuses in the system.
• Shortcomings in training, focused on security, self-defense, use of force,
and use of firearms
• Little inclusion of other material in other areas (education, psychology,
sociology, etc.)
• Paradigm of separating the security function from other functions in
prisons
LACK OF COMPREHENSIVE PUBLIC
POLICIES
• Absence of comprehensive public policies ( including criminology, gender
issues, correctional issues, human rights, rehabilitation, prisons, and
criminal justice)
-
Organized crime
Flagrante delicto
Minimum sentences
• Lack of coordination with other areas of the State, including health,
education, etc.
• Lack of coordination between prison policy and crime policy hampers and
complicates efficient use of custodial sentences and the effectiveness of
citizen security systems to meet the objective of promoting safer and
more secure societies.
Inadequate Gender Policies
• There is also a lack of policies for minority inmates, and especially for the growing
population of female prisoners:
- The prison population has increased by 20% since 2000, while the female
prison popualtion has grown by 50% since then.
- The Americas has the highest rate of female prisoners in the world, with
12.15 women imprisoned per 100,000 inhabitants.
• Women deprived of liberty are exposed to prison systems that were not built to
accommodate gender-specific needs:
- poor condition of female facilities, which are not built as women’s prison
units
- lack of specialized medical treatment and care
- Abuse in searches
- Few opportunities for job training and educational and recreational
activities
- Absence of specific facilities to house women, who have to share
compounds with men, or units for minors, who are imprisoned with adult women.
PROBLEMS OFF MEASUREMENT
Most countries do not have tools to produce quality data analyzing the
different aspects of the system, especially the nature and condition of the
prison population.
Data on recidivism are even more scarce, since in addition to the limited
capacity of governments to produce information:
- there are practical methodological problems in measuring the
phenomenon and standardizing data collection
- there is a changing conceptualization of recidivism, depending
on the domestic legislation of each country and the use of different methods
to compile and analyze data on criminal recidivism, which makes it difficult to
compare data horizontally.
COMPREHENSIVE AND COORDINATED
RESPONSE
• It is clear that the crisis in the prison system has many causes that are
interrelated and cannot be dealt with in isolation; hence, a
comprehensive and coordinated strategy is needed
• Working strategy of the Secretariat for Multidimensional Security:
- Guided by a model based on rights and responsibilities (founded
on the Principles and Best Practices on Protection of Persons Deprived of
Liberty in the Americas, and the international system of laws, and on the
framework of recommendations emanating from OAS political forums)
- Approach centered on the human rights of persons deprived of
liberty and on the functions of custodial sentences
- Objective: To strengthen prison systems of member states in the
direction of reintegration of persons deprived of liberty
Comprehensive Strategy of the Secretariat for Multidimensional Security
A. Criminal Justice
Systems
B. Prison Management
C. Rehabilitation and
Reinsertion Programs
Promotion of alternative
measures to prison sentences
Support for improvements in infrastructure
Promotion of evidence-based
reinsertion programs
Promotion of review of
judgments
Strengthening of processes for training
prison staff
Assistance and monitoring of
former inmates upon their
release
Support for legislative reform
Professionalization of corrections officers
and implementation of career training for
prison officers
Increase in communitiy capacity
to receive exconvicts
Specific crime prevention
actions
Registration and classification of inmates
based on risk criteria
Restorative justice programs
Implementation of procedures for
mediation and peaceful settlement of
disputes
Generation of statistical data and reliable,
quality information
Development of case management systems
Programs and projects of the Secretariat for
Multidimensional Security
• Program of Drug Treatment Courts for the Americas: implementation of this
model as an alternative to imprisonment
• Project for building the institutional capacity of Public Defender Offices in
Brazil: expansion of access to justice in the country, so that more persons
deprived of liberty have their right to a technical defense guaranteed, and in
this way help reduce preventive detention
• Public Security Information and Knowledge Network: institutional, technical,
and technological strengthening of information systems on crime, violence,
and insecurity, including prison systems as well
• Ongoing Evaluation of National Security Systems: Identification of the
primary strengths and weaknesses of prison subsystems in member states,
enabling beneficiary countries to respond to challenges with adapted,
evidence-based strategies
• A New Path: Project for Promotion of Productive Alternatives for Juveniles in
Conflict with the Law in Jamaica
• Methodology for monitoring and evaluation of social reintegration programs
designed to reduce criminal recidivism
“A New Path: Project for Promotion of Productive
Alternatives for Juveniles in Conflict with the Law in
Jamaica
Objective: To strengthen the socio-economic capacity of juveniles detained in two juvenile
correctional centers in Jamaica, thereby contributing to reducing criminal recidivism
Lines of action:
1. Improve access to and the quality of reintegration services and programs in the South Camp
Correctional Center
- Implementation of a curriculum of educational and vocational activities
- Life-skills courses
- Rehabilitation through alternative activities (arts, music, yoga)
- Individual psycho-social care
- Training of corrections officers and local organizations
2. Post-detention assistance for juveniles upon release from the South Camp and Metcalfe
Correctional Centers, to assist them in their economic, productive, and social reinsertion
- Individualized assistance for all juveniles for 6 to 12 months following their release
from the correctional center.
- Development and offering of educational, vocational, and work opportunities in local
communities
3. Development and implementation of a case-management system: to assist in the process
of reinsertion of juveniles by consulting specific and detailed information on all juveniles in detention,
and after they are released
Methodology for monitoring and evaluation of social
reintegration programs designed to reduce criminal
recidivism
•
Objective: To facilitate instruments for developing institututional capacity, in order
to determine which interventions are effective in reinsertion and how the impact
of these interventions can be evaluated, with regard to both recidivism and
reintegration of inmates in society.
•
End product: A practical instrument to be used to build institutional capacity for
the management of prison systems oriented toward social reintegration of
inmates:
- Preparation of a consolidated report containing a comparative analysis
based on the report of the prison situation and rehabilitation and social
reintegration programs identified in each country where case studies were
conducted (Barbados, Chile, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama, Dominican Republic,
Uruguay)
- Review of best practices in the development, implementation, and
evaluation of rehabilitation and social reintegration programs of offenders, in
Canada, United States, and England.
Department of Public Security
December 3, 2015