How InSight Crime Covers Prisons

Security officials and politicians worldwide often present incarceration as a solution to tackling crime. But in Latin America and the Caribbean, prisons have consistently served as incubators for powerful criminal groups.

Overpopulation, poor conditions, and limited resources allow criminal groups to impose their will behind bars. They bolster their ranks, develop criminal economies, and extend their networks beyond prison walls.

Tren de Aragua, one of South America’s most prominent criminal groups, proliferated inside Venezuela’s Tocorón prison and later used migrant smuggling and extortion to expand into Colombia, Peru, and Chile, among other nations. In Ecuador, gangs such as the Lobos and Choneros have expanded in jails. The gangs are now driving a spike in violence linked to the transnational drug trade.

Given the close ties between prisons and organized crime, InSight Crime constantly thinks about best practices for analyzing these spaces. And there are some key points we keep in mind.

Language is crucial. There is a vital distinction between people incarcerated but awaiting trial, and those who have been found guilty or sentenced for a crime. In Latin America, pretrial detention is especially rampant, with high rates of people stuck in jail for years without going to trial. When writing, we always aim to be specific to avoid mischaracterization and stigmatization.

We also seek nuanced analysis. Many incarcerated people exist in a gray area as both perpetrators and victims of crime. We saw this first hand when visiting Honduras’ only women’s prison, where we spoke with women who had faced brutal violence but had also committed crimes themselves. Their identities are not black and white.

Data is pivotal to untangling misconceptions about prisons. In July, InSight Crime used statistics from the University of London to explore the link between pretrial detention and organized crime in Paraguay. The data gave us a detailed visualization of not just national, but regional and local prison dynamics.

Whether it's the employment of hardline security strategies around the region or continuing prison raids by Venezuelan authorities, understanding prisons will remain crucial to analyzing organized crime in the region. To learn more about prisons, visit insightcrime.org.