Prisiones e Internados: Una Comparación de los Establecimientos Penales en América del Norte y América Latina (Prisons and Internment: A Comparison of
Penal Facilities in North America and Latin
America)

Birkbeck, CH

Abstract

The recent use of expressions such as
“warehouse prison” in the U.S. and “concentration
camp” in Latin America would seem to indicate
that conditions of deprivation of freedom in both
regions look more and more alike. The analysis
presented here suggests that it is not so. Penal
institutions in North and South America
throughout six interrelated dimensions are
compared: internal organization of the places,
surveillance, isolation, supervision, administrative
control and formalization of procedures. In North
America, control is deep (persistent, intrusive and
almost permanent); in Latin America, control is
shallow (sporadic, indifferent and superficial). If
in North America one speaks of prisons and
incarceration, in Latin America it seems better to
speak of judicial inmates and internment.

Citation

America). Caderno CRH (Impresso), 23(58), 129-149

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2010
• Deposit Date: Nov 2, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Caderno CRH
• Print ISSN: 0103-4979
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 58
• Pages: 129-149
• Keywords: prison, internment, North America,; Latin America
• Publisher URL: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/ccrh/v23n58/v23n58a09.pdf