Book contents
- Prisons and Crime in Latin America
- Prisons and Crime in Latin America
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Preface: COVID-19 and Prisons in Latin America
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Prison Explosion in Latin America
- 3 Explaining Prison Growth
- 4 Drugs and Prisons
- 5 Female Imprisonment and Violence in Latin America
- 6 Justice Institutions in Latin America: The “Arrest and Convict” Machine
- 7 Life in Prison
- 8 Hobbes in Prison: Violence and Prison Governance in Latin America
- 9 Prison and the Outside World: The Fallacy of Separation
- 10 Conclusions: Corrections and Criminal Policy
- Appendix Methodological Notes on Surveys
- References
- Index
4 - Drugs and Prisons
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 February 2021
- Prisons and Crime in Latin America
- Prisons and Crime in Latin America
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Preface: COVID-19 and Prisons in Latin America
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Prison Explosion in Latin America
- 3 Explaining Prison Growth
- 4 Drugs and Prisons
- 5 Female Imprisonment and Violence in Latin America
- 6 Justice Institutions in Latin America: The “Arrest and Convict” Machine
- 7 Life in Prison
- 8 Hobbes in Prison: Violence and Prison Governance in Latin America
- 9 Prison and the Outside World: The Fallacy of Separation
- 10 Conclusions: Corrections and Criminal Policy
- Appendix Methodological Notes on Surveys
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 4 studies illegal drugs, a significant driver of crime and a central issue in Latin American politics and society. One in five inmates is incarcerated for drug-related crimes, and at least one in three uses drugs regularly inside prisons. This chapter examines the patterns of drug crimes, the revenue made from selling or transporting drugs, and the income offenders made prior to being arrested, as well as the use of drugs inside prisons (who supplies the drugs, how much is spent on drugs, who controls drug trafficking inside the correction facilities, and how big the illegal prison market is). We show that law enforcement overwhelmingly targets “easy to catch” drug-traffickers, while barely making inroads on dismantling illegal drug industries, and facilitates the replacement social mechanism. Prison has become an extreme punishment that has had only limited success in reducing the supply of illegal drugs.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Prisons and Crime in Latin America , pp. 87 - 105Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021