Female Incarceration And Drug Markets In Latin American Prisons

Female Incarceration And Drug Markets In Latin American Prisons Presented by: Mr. Fondevila Date: 13 March 2022 Problem - Hypothesis: women's prisons in LA became more violent than men's prisons (proportionally) - Relevance: issue understudied in LA and relevant for the imprisonment policies: HRs violations, recidivism, rehabilitation programs, social costs, safety of inmates & guards - Novelty: new comparative statistical data (inmate survey) - Explanation: drugs plays a role Literature Correlatives of prison violence? (Gadon, Johnstone and Cooke, 2006; Schenk and Fremow, 2012) - Importation Theories (individual factors) • Demographics: age (Cunningham and Sorensen, 2007), race (Griffin and Hepburn, 2006), education (DeLisi, 2004) • Criminals: crime type (Cunningham, 2008), sentence (Cunningham and Sorensen, 2007), previous arrests (Cooper and Werner, 1990), previous sentences (DeLisi, 2003), previous violence (Drury and De Lisi, 2010), gangs (Gaes, 2002) • Street codes (Worrall and Morris (2012) • Psychological: aggression (Lahm, 2008), depression (Baskin, 1991), selfesteem (Gillespie, 2005), social support (DeLisi, 2004), criminal mentality (Walters, 2011) - Deprivation Theories (situational factors) • Infrastructure: building (Atlas, 1982), staff (Kratcoski, 1988), time (Steinke, 1991), location (Doherty, 1985), overpopulation (Lester, 1990), living standards (Dissel, 2008), administration (Huebner, 2003), rehabilitation (Walrath, 2001) Data - Administrative records • - Socio-demographics, sentences, criminal profile inmate population Inmate Surveys (UNDP) • National and regional representative samples of prisoners in 2017/19. Ν: 8,100  Regions: Bs As, Mexico City, and Sao Paulo  Countries: Chile, Costa Rica. El Salvador, Honduras, and Peru • Objectives: living standards – victimization (institutional violence, theft, assault, sexual assault) Methodology (Strategy) - Contrast literature correlatives with descriptive data • - Descriptions (age, crime, sentence, overpopulation & living standards) Descriptive and inferential statistics (hypothesis test - drugs) • Proportion test (gender): a) levels of violence, b) institutional violence, c) theft of belongings, d) sexual violence • Correlation/logistic regressions (drugs) Overview – Findings - Importation • Age: 26 to 30 years  Male: 0.21  Female: 0.19 • Crime: homicide  Male: 15.5  Female: 11.3 • Sentence: 16 to 20 years  Male: 0.09  Female: 0.04 - Deprivation • Rehabilitation: educational  Male: 0.53  Female: 0.62 • Living standard: medical  Male: 0.65  Female: 0.71 • Overpopulation: (Salvador)  Male: 332  Female: 115 Results I - Comparison of violence between men/women: Men • Younger • More violent crimes (greater use of weapons and more victims suffering physical harm) - • Longer sentences • Less participation - rehabilitation programs • Worse living conditions Inside prisons: • Men suffer more physical violence than women - guards are more violent • Women: More violence (assault and sexual) - property theft Results II: Drugs - Consumption of drugs prior to arrest increases violence within prisons - Inmates who used crack or cocaine before being arrested - double levels of physical violence - Women who consumed marijuana/ecstasy before arrest up to three times more theft/destruction of property Discussion I - Classic models of violence fall short in explaining violence in Latin American women's prisons. • - Literature based in male inmate violence What makes the difference with Latin American prisons? • Growing rate of female incarceration (drug dealers/consumers) • Prior use of narcotics denotes addiction • Illegal drugs - higher rates of violence and victimization (users) Discussion II: Drugs + Criminality In Prisons - Proportionally, more women are incarcerated for drugs than men - Violence and victimization associated with the consumption (possible dependence) of drugs within prison - Drugs create illicit economies within prisons where "there were no pleasant means of coercing reluctant debtors to pay" (Hochstetler & DeLisi, 2005: 260) - Debts are frequently paid for with violence (Copes, Hochtestler and Sandberg, 2015:33) - Violence and threats could be a by-product of the drug distribution system used to ensure the payment of debts and reaffirm market control