Prisons, Inmates and Governance in Latin America (Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology)

This edited collection addresses the topic of prison governance which is crucial to our understanding of contemporary prisons in Latin America. It presents social research from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay and Argentina to examine the practices of governance by the prisoners themselves in each unique setting in detail. High levels of variation in the governance practices are found to exist, not only between countries but also within the same country, between prisons and within the same prison, and between different areas. The chapters make important contributions to the theoretical concepts and arguments that can be used to interpret the emergence, dynamics and effects of these practices in the institutions of confinement of the region. The book also addresses the complex task of explaining why these types of practices of governance happen in Latin American prisons as some of them appear to be a legacy of a remote past but others have arisen more recently. It makes a vital contribution to the fundamental debate for prison policies in Latin America about the alternatives that can be promoted. Mâaximo Sozzo is Professor of Sociology of Law and Criminology and Director of the Crime and Society Program at the National University of Litoral, Argentina. He has held a number of visiting appointments in Latin American and European universities, most recently at the University of Torino. He has been Straus Fellow at the Law School of New York University and Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory. His research explores the contemporary transformations of punishment in Latin America, the history and present of travels of knowledge on the criminal question at a global scale, and the debates around southernizing and decolonizing criminology Contents 6 Contributors 8 List of Figures 10 Introduction: Inmate Governance in Latin America. Context, Trends and Conditions 11 Punitive Turn 12 Paroxysmal Deterioration and Precarization of Prison Life 16 Multiplication and Expansion of Inmate Governance 18 Contents of the Book 25 References 36 Emergence and Transformations 43 Governance and Legitimacy in Brazilian Prison: From Solidarity Committees to the Primeiro Comando Da Capital (PCC) in São Paulo 44 Introduction 44 The Problem of Prison Governance in the International Literature 48 Reflections on Prison Governance in Brazil 52 From Solidarity Committees to PCC: The Construction of Prison Order at Two Points in Time 54 Legitimacy and Recognition: Of Whom, for Whom, and by Whom? 60 Final Considerations 66 References 68 Tales from La Catedral: The Narco and the Reconfiguration of Prison Social Order in Colombia 72 Latin American Prisons, the War on Drugs and the Emergence of the Narco 72 The Narco and the Reconfiguration of Social Order in Colombian Prisons 77 Tales from La Catedral 80 Permeable Institutions. Latin American Prisons and the Modern Penitentiary Project 85 Understanding Prison Social Order and Government Under the Narco. The Hybridity of Colombian and Latin American Prisons 88 Tolemaida Resort and Other Luxuries: La Catedral Effect and the Reshaping of the Prison Experience in Colombia 92 The Dawn of the Narco Era and the Political Economy of Colombian and Latin American Prisons 97 References 98 Provós, Representantes, Agentes: The Evolution of Prison Governance Arrangements in the Dominican Republic’s Prison Reform Process 102 Context: A Brief History of the Nuevo Modelo De Gestión Penitenciaria 103 This Study—Methods 106 Prison Governance in Latin America 107 The Evolution of Prison Governance Models in Dominican Prisons 111 From Provó to Representante: Governance in Traditional Prisons 111 Agentes De Vigilancia Y Tratamiento Penitenciario: Governance in the New Model CCRs 119 Discussion: Integrating Conceptual Frameworks of Prison Governance 125 Conclusion 128 References 131 Dynamics and variations 136 The Carceral Reproduction of Neoliberal Order: Power, Ideology and Economy in Venezuelan Prison 137 Introduction 137 The Long Neoliberal Night 142 The Prison Pink Tide 145 Neoliberalism in the Shadow 147 The Kitchen of Neoliberalism 152 References 158 Enduring Lock-Up: Co-Governance and Exception in Nicaragua’s Hybrid Carceral System 163 A Brief Methodological Note 165 Conceiving of Co-Governance 166 On the Face of It: Privileges and Prisoner Consejos 167 (In)security and Self-Governing Practices 173 La ley de la gallada 179 The Heavy Hand of Authority 184 Conclusions 189 References 191 Co-Governance of Dialogue: Hegemony in a Brazilian Prison 194 Introduction: The Global South and Penal Governance 194 Prison Governance and the Production of Order 196 Order in ‘Southern’ Prisons: A Methodological Inquiry into the Culture of Prison Governance in Brazil 201 The Crisis of Authority: Prison Containment, Penal Treatment and the Dialogue with Inmates 203 Hegemony and the Layers of Governance: The Project, the Apparatus and the Production of Consent 213 Concluding on (Co-)governance and Hegemony in Prison 226 Bibliography 231 A Decolonial and Depatriarchal Approach to Women’s Imprisonment: Co-governance, Legal Pluralism and Gender at Santa Mónica Prison, Perú 240 Santa Mónica: A Patriarchal Warehouse Prison 242 Towards a Decolonial and Depatriarchal Analysis of Prisons in the Global South 244 Santa Mónica’s Governance and Legal Systems 246 The Delegates: The “Interface Brokers” of Prison 247 Co-financing Prisoners’ Basic Needs 249 Interlegality in Santa Mónica: “God May Forgive Sin, but He Does Not Forgive a Scandal” 251 Conclusions 258 References 260 Evangelical Wings and Prison Governance in Argentina 266 Introduction 266 Multiplication of Evangelical Wings: Process and Conditions 268 Hierarchy, Positions and Roles in the Evangelical Wing 272 Strategies to Maintain Order 277 A Co-governance Assemblage? Dislocation, Negotiation, Cooperation and Confrontation 286 References 294 Alternatives? 301 The “Prisoner-Entrepreneur”: Responsibilization and Co-governance at Punta de Rieles Prison in Uruguay 302 Introduction 302 Governing Through a Peculiar Responsibilization Strategy 305 The Role of Productive Activities and Entrepreneurism 309 The Prisoner-Entrepreneur as an Agent of Self-Governance and as an Agent for the Governance of Others 312 Co-governance, Delegation, Collaboration and Friction 320 References 328 Radical Alternatives to Punitive Detention 334 Background: (1) Carceral Injustice 340 Background (2): Inmate Governance 343 Self-Governing Prison Communities 346 Conclusion 352 References 359 Epilogue 369 Inmate Governance in Latin America: Comparative and Theoretical Notes 370 Inmate Governance and Differences Between Prisons of the Global North and South 371 Theoretical Tools and North–South/South–South/South–North Dialogues 378 Towards a Comparative Perspective 388 References 395 Index 401