Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
98
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Thoughts on prison system and increases
in crime: The Ecuadorian Case
1
Reflexiones sobre el sistema penitenciario y el
aumento de la delincuencia: El Caso Ecuatoriano
Frank Steven Sosa Gangotena
Independent legal researcher
City:
Quito
Country:
Ecuador
Original article (analysis)
RFJ, No. 11, 2022, pp. 98 - 123, ISSN 2588-0837
ABSTRACT:
The transformation undergone by individuals
who are part of a prison system is from freedom to illegality;
it is a system that not only compromises freedom but ignores
rights and guarantees thanks to the prevailing corruption in
a society that rebuilds life behind bars. Second chances are
sought, and reality is accepted through the pacifist route, or
one finishes destroying one’s life, thinking that everything is
already lost. There is a fear of repression or one toy with the
illusion of leaving early and doing things well. The relationship
that behaviour, corruption, drugs, and mafias share in the
success or decline of a prison system that seeks to reintegrate
people into society who do not feel prepared or perhaps do not
want to reintegrate is observed. All this is linked to a precarious
and inefficient education system, lack of psychological support,
and prison work that condemns whoever learns to be a lifelong
labourer. Thus, it aggravates one of the phenomenon’s primary
1
This journal article was written by the independent researcher Frank Sosa
Gangotena who received support from the Publications Center (Centro de
Publicaciones). The author thanks Lissangee Mendoza García, who worked
as a research assistant and GIDE’s senior researchers for supervision and
preliminary advisory and revision.
DOI 10.26807/rfj.v11i11.393
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
99
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
problems: a view of authority figures, or those who remain at a
higher hierarchical level, with rancour and enmity.
KEYWORDS:
prisons, crime, penal sanctions, crime prevention.
RESUMEN:
El estatuto de las personas que son objeto de
atención por parte de un sistema penitenciario no sólo tienen
comprometida su libertad, sino que en ocasiones se encuentran
vulnerados sus derechos y garantías. A partir de lo expuesto,
y con base en los trabajos de algunos autores ecuatorianos,
como Zambrano Pasquel o Argüello, se realiza una reflexión
del contexto de los encarcelados en nuestro país (estructurado
a modo de miscelánea). Así, se describe la relación entre
diversas conductas, y factores como la corrupción, las drogas
y las mafias en el éxito o declive del sistema penitenciario (que
persigue la reinserción de las personas). Por otra parte, se
explora preliminarmente la influencia del sistema de educación,
y otros aspectos tales como la falta de apoyo psicológico y las
consecuencias del trabajo penitenciario.
PALABRAS CLAVE:
Establecimiento penitenciario,
criminalidad, sanciones penales, prevención del crimen.
JEL
CODE:
K10, K14.
INTRODUCTION
The penitentiary system involves several elements
for its composition. These can reflexively show similarity
with the government structure itself since they consist of a
human element (guards, authorities, and prison population), a
territorial element (all social rehabilitation centres are located
in physical space), and respect and recognition for subjective
decisions--which in a State is expressed through sovereignty.
Thus, a reflection would allow prisons to be analyzed as
sub-countries: as sub-states that handle their own rules and obey
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
100
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
their authorities. They have a type of exit-only visa, which is not
always sufficient to reenter a society that continued its course
during the time that prisoners remained socially immobilized.
At times, little by little take away the prisoner’s desire to favour
the same society and leads to drugs and problems.
The basis for the reflective research work offered
comes from various legal academic contributions that contain
inputs in the form of interviews and surveys of the Ecuadorian
prison system. Although similar bibliography has also been
consulted in other countries, such as Spain and Argentina, the
basis for this critical review is located on several studies by
Santiago R. Argüello, a researcher on prison policy from the
human rights perspective who also has a relevant professional
career in the Prosecutor’s Office. Also used were investigations
by the renowned Guayaquil criminal lawyer Alfonso Zambrano
Pasquel, who has directed several studies on prisons in Ecuador,
with data obtained from interviews and direct personal contact.
The prisoners’ opinions and the climate of the penitentiary
centres that underlie the criminal policy analysis provided
herein will not be quoted in detail but somewhat abstracted
from their judgments.
1. FROM FREEDOM TO INCARCERATION: FACTORS THAT
PUT AN END TO FREEDOM
It is easy to think of current activities and situations
that limit people’s freedom. The democratic constitutional
State does not usually tolerate any public intervention in that
freedom, other than those corresponding to existing criminal
laws’ transgressions. To complete this statement, we must
remember that actions classified as illegal, although having
immediate consequences, do not
per se
imply a sentence or a
direct deprivation of the person’s freedom. Neither is it the
case that those who pay are always guilty or responsible for the
infraction. Some are only in the wrong place and at the wrong
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
101
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
time. It should also be noted that, within Ecuadorian social
rehabilitation centres, there are still those sentenced to the
court: drug addicts, recidivists of minor crimes, and even the
mentally ill. For one reason or another, these are people who
cannot reintegrate into society either by choice or condition.
These behaviours are associated with need: that is,
inequitable access to wealth and a lack of employment, which
in turn leads to an illegal way of acquiring income. One may
even think that a criminal is a victim of a system that leaves
them disaffected and disadvantaged, “but the disproportion
in wealth distribution is a criminogenic factor, which must be
ascertained to understand if, in countries that increase their
economic prosperity, social justice also increases” (Zambrano,
2009, p. 13). It is not always the case: if economic prosperity
does not go hand in hand with education and a culture of values,
the society condemns itself to continue suffering injustices and
tolerating social inequalities.
Professor Luis Rodríguez Manzanera reminds us that
the environment alone is not capable of producing crime.
Instead, Rodríguez (n. d.) qualifies the environment as an
accomplice and the criminal as the microbe that will develop
and evolve in the breeding ground. He also states that the
environment includes work, police, vagrancy, begging, and
urban planning (cited by Zambrano, 2009, p. 16).
To these two elements, on which we will reflect next,
two more must be added: the lack of education and the free
consumption of drugs.
All the mentioned elements form a seed of evil that
complements itself. Labour activities must be started from an
early age, and this has a terrible impact on the children, who
must engage in activities that are restricted for others, such as
street cigarette sales, whose purchase by minors is prohibited.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
102
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
For adults, the increase in underemployment as a measure to
combat unemployment is ineffective. Those who carry out this
type of activity risk the dangers of the street, hostility from
those already involved in crime, the disinterest of many, and
the desperation of seeing their need to maintain and feed a
family go unmet (INEC, 2019, pp. 6-10).
This desperation leads projects to be undertaken
in places that are prohibited and without permission, thus
invoking the second element’s intervention: the police. In
this role, the police perform a job directly dependent on the
authorities’ instructions to comply with and enforce laws (at
least in theory). However, the effect is that social resentment
is created or aggravated. Later this will strengthen and worsen,
and authority and its agents are generally viewed as an enemy
acting abusively and unfairly against those who seek to harm
no one. It could be classified as a critical criminogenic element
that will later make up the criminal’s psychological profile.
For Zambrano (2009), vagrancy and begging go hand
in hand, and while genetic or even psychopathological factors
may determine them, they begin as parasocial or asocial
activities and end up turning into antisocial practices (p. 257-
269). This element -authority- undergoes an unfortunate
evolution. Begging involves asking for money from passersby,
various acts at traffic light stops, such as windshield-cleaning
service, or displaying handicaps to cause pity. These activities
are thus integrated by various young people, which sometimes
culminates in criminal gangs.
The formation of gangs is not bad in and of itself. The
problem is triggered when the feeling of belonging to the group
overrides any other social norm. In some cases, gangs become
another person to defend, even on the coast of other lives. In
Ecuador, the “Latin Kings” and the “Vatos Locos” clash violently
and cause numerous deaths. If analyzed, these struggles are not
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
103
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
only due to identity and certain patriotic feelings. Instead, in
their world, whoever is positioned over the other gangs gains
fame and respect; and, still more pernicious, gains the interest
of drug traffickers and organized crime to be hired as a militia--
granting them power, weapons, and money. This, in turn, causes
young people who are not aware of where they are getting into
to be seduced. Such was the case of the Nicaraguan gang MC13.
The third element considered is the “urbanism
paradox”, defined as consisting of two parts: migration and
precariousness, as understood by the author who guides us,
Rodríguez Manzanero (Zambrano, 2009, p. 16). Migration
implies an imbalance because those who move in search of better
opportunities contribute to overpopulation in the destination
territory and leave a demographic gap in the territory from
which they come. These actions have serious consequences:
overcrowding in shelters, debts with the so-called chicks,
invasions of constructions, and indigence. Since the border was
opened in Ecuador’s case, the migration of Colombians and
Venezuelans has increased the crime problem. This is mainly
because criminal records are not reviewed and because it is a
large group in a situation of extreme precariousness, fleeing
from hunger, poverty, and, in the Venezuelan case, political
repression. In Ecuador, this causes mixed feelings of fear and
social rejection.
Along with these three elements, the lack of education--
which limits opportunities for progress-- should not be ignored.
Children and young people who are not in school will be in the
streets. There is a higher risk of falling into criminal networks
in this scenario and ending up devoured by the prison system.
Children are easy targets for such activities. It is sometimes even
conscientiously: as in the case of drug traffickers who began
their criminal life in childhood when, in search of a better life,
they saw that life outside the law paid very well.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
104
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Drug intake does not correspond solely to the
consumption of marijuana or cocaine. The sale of alcohol
and cigarettes to minors lacking a stable home or recreational
activities facilitates their early introduction to these practices.
This element is related to property-related crimes, whether to
consume or sell or exchange. Changes then gradually occur in
the type of drugs consumed and crimes committed to obtaining
resources to get hold of those drugs. This is an important factor
preventing a prisoner’s reinsertion unless it is by their own will.
Another factor that causes coexistence to be broken
is the alterations suffered by people with mental illnesses.
Technically their acts cannot be qualified as crimes because
the authors are imputable due to their mental condition. Their
condition poses problems that society does not always know
how to resolve. Foucault (1976, pp. 110-287) studied how
those suffering from illnesses and causing problems were kept.
In Ecuador, psychiatric centres have assumed this task, such as
the “Lorenzo Ponce” hospital in Guayaquil and Quito’s mental
asylum.
However, there are many cases of criminals in which
their lack of imputability created situations with significant
social impact. This happened with Pedro Alonso López,
“The Monster of the Andes,” who was extradited from the
penitentiary to a psychiatric centre, only to go free after four
years based on his presumed recovery. He went on to continue
committing crimes until he was once again imprisoned (Jácome,
2005, p. 76-78). Social rehabilitation starts with the idea that
a person who has broken the laws of social coexistence must
comply with a time of separation and return to society renewed
and with new horizons. The social problem is dangerous when
there are prisoners who know no life other than prison, to the
point that, while they could regain their freedom, it is no longer
of interest to them.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
105
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Theoretically, only the courts, following a procedure, can
legally incarcerate someone. Several factors, such as those that
we have already seen, are not only criminogenic but also create
an apparent awareness of uprooting. This seems to encourage
dangerous feelings of abandonment, having nothing to lose and
much to gain, or social resentment. While it is understood that
people deprived of liberty
(PDL) begin said condition when they
enter prison, they often have a self-understanding of not having
enjoyed freedom beforehand.
2. PRISON: AN ISOLATED REALITY
We must situate the prison in the formation of this
surveillance society. The modern penitentiary system
no longer claims that it punishes crimes: it seeks to
readjust delinquents. Under the knowledge of men
and the humanity of punishments lies inevitable
disciplinary domination of bodies, a mixed form of
submission and objectification, a “power-knowledge”.
(Foucault, 1976, p. 236)
A little more than a century and a half ago, the first
Ecuadorian social rehabilitation centre for men was founded
in Quito. It was named “García Moreno” Prison in honour
of its founder, who established it as part of the modernizing
policies he undertook during his presidency. From then until
2014, its cells lodged thousands of people. Nevertheless, at
last, the precarious situation led to a state of emergency that
forced its doors to be definitively closed. As a replacement, a
new project was designed with a social rehabilitation centre in
the country, located on the outskirts of Latacunga, a maximum-
security prison in Guayaquil, and, territorially distinct, the
Southern District Center located in Turi. It was done with the
idea of redistributing the prisoners and rebuilding a system that
remained rotten until a decade ago.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
106
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
The relocation of the prison population was significant
for several reasons: the abandonment prisoners experience
when it becomes difficult for their relatives to access the new
prisons, far from towns and cities. Furthermore:
The new punitive regime had a profound impact on the
female support networks of the criminalised population.
It contributed to the neoliberal dynamics of the
reproduction of crime through the legal punishment of
women mothers identified as offenders and the extra-
legal criminalisation of women heads of extended
families who, among other members, take care of
prisoners. Before and after this period of government,
women confronted adversity in concrete ways: in a
binding, immediate, adaptive, and creative way. A
collective social movement, multiple, as resistant as it is
silent, must be recognised to build a public sphere that
is authentically antagonistic to patriarchal capitalism.
(Aguirre et al., 2020, p. 106)
It represents an additional expense, and the
psychological impact on the convict, which is left with hardly
any contacts other than fellow prisoners in the centre and
the violence experienced there. The prisoners’ psychological
consequences are that they begin to believe that they are losing
what little he had left, that the struggle to leave is useless, and
that he has nowhere to go. A former convict confessed that this
situation leads to bad decisions and diminishes the desire for
repentance and to do things right (Moreno and Bueno-Guerra,
2018, p. 2).
Along with abandonment, there is another problem
of a more social nature. This is that prisoners become isolated
from reality. In other words, moving the prisoners to the city
outskirts - in the cases of Turi, Latacunga, Guayaquil, and many
others - to avoid tragedies if the system fails is achieved at a
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
107
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
very high cost. This cost is related to reintegration due to the
difficulty implied by spending time disconnected from reality.
Once they have completed their sentence, what prisoners find
is a reality hostilely foreign to their memory, their knowledge,
and consciousness, which creates frustration and even fear.
(Manzanos, 1998, p. 64-70)
The purpose of these new prisons’ construction and
operation is to restructure the precarious penitentiary system
and eliminate corruption. Indeed, this is a difficult task without
proper guidance. Besides, we must not forget that this system
is maintained based on a discipline regime: necessary, in
principle, but, in practice, this system often fuels a sense of
rejection of authority and order. This situation is propitiated by
coercive methods, mediated by fear and conditioning, to which
the correctional officers are no strangers. Prohibited acts thus
occur, as evidenced in audiovisual materials and testimonies
from prisoners in the Turi Prison.
Quinatoa (2017) mentioned:
In the field of rehabilitation, programs aim to reduce
recidivism by adopting effective social reintegration
mechanisms. Initiatives, properly designed and
implemented, can provide stability and order within
prisons. (p. 126)
Prisons are thought of and conceived as power
structures that traditionally surpass or ignore the existence
of human rights. Education and work have been proposed
to remedy this reality and distract the prisoner from their
confinement while learning technical activities or completing
studies for personal satisfaction and fulfillment. Thanks to
these voluntary recreational activities offered to the prisoners,
the prisoner feels motivated to regenerate and escape the
violence and corruption inside the rehabilitation centres. In
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
108
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
the following, we will see what these activities consist of and
consider whether their operation is correct; or if opportunities
must still be earned through corruption and abuse of authority
by correctional officers.
2.1. Work and Education in the Prison
Although work has been assigned to prisoners since
the penitentiary paradigm changed from punishment to
confinement, for Sancha Mata and García García (1987),
prison work is organized with a correctional focus. However,
in penitentiary centres, the commercial purpose was added
to the aspiration for reform. In our country, this practice has
undergone several changes over time. However, between
evolutions and involutions, the concept of work seems to be
related to corruption. This can be assumed when analyzing
the life of prisoners in the old García Moreno Prison. Their
testimonies show that there was preferential treatment, in
connection with bribes, and quotas facilitated the prisoners’
profitable activities, among other things.
All work carried out was affected, even if they were
illicit activities. The guards, according to these testimonies,
tolerated or prevented prisoners’ actions through payments.
These activities ranged from selling handicrafts and groceries
to hired killers, drug trafficking, and extortion. Every effort
could be compensated. There were even those who relied on the
economic activities carried out inside prison for subsistence.
For example, the old Prison store manager stated that with
what he sold, he was able to support his family and educate his
children. Some sold fabric-covered pens for a dollar. Prisoners
received twenty-five cents of this and had to pay ten cents more
for items such as taxes; the rest went to the prison. The same
happened with paintings and any other craft sold (Vásconez,
2006, pp. 5-21).
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
109
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Concerning illicit activities, bribery of authorities was
essential to bring in the forbidden objects. Thus, prisoners could
carry out smuggling and micro-trafficking in a system whose
lack of authority and grand operating corruption prevented the
effective control of illicit activities. Therefore, until 2013 it was
the mafias that effectively controlled the prisons. (“Cárceles
inseguras, están dominadas por mafias que extorsionan”, 2013)
According to the prisoners consulted, it was these criminal
groups who placed the custodians and guards. The so-called
caporals were prisoners who received support from the
mafias to keep the established order, collect money from the
different quotas, and even recruit individuals to boost criminal
organizations’ ranks.
Alvarado (2019) established:
The immense transnational strategy shows the
articulation between criminal businessmen and
corrupt politicians, who arrange large public works
for corporate and personal profit. They captured
governments to monopolise the business. It is a form of
unarmed organised criminal activity. (p. 23)
Thus, it might seem that doing time within a prison was
a job. The prison society, which includes the prisoners, also has
educational regimes. These are academic, for those who wish
to complete their primary or high school studies; and trade-
focused, for those wishing to learn something that not only
helps them to pass the time within the centre, but also to earn
money, feel useful, and give something back to the society of
which they had taken advantage. For prisoners to feel accepted
in the existing spheres of power, some collaborate with haircuts
for their companions.
The trades taught in Ecuadorian prisons—including
carpentry, hairdressing, baking, painting, music, and theatre—
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
110
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
usually require materials that do not exist within the centre.
According to prisoners, each person must obtain them from close
friends or relatives. And this is not only for work but also for
donations to the centre. The case of prisoners who offered their
testimony referred specifically to painting. Those individuals
were required to bring a box of oil paintings, a canvas, a set of
brushes, an easel, and a litre of oil. Also, they were required for
an additional set of each tool for prison use; if his works found
a buyer, they would be sold under the Prison name. The author
would receive nothing more than twenty percent, while the
centre would be left with eighty. In this way, these imprisoned
artists’ authorship is hidden; they were not allowed to sign their
works behind bars. (Redacción Justicia, 2015)
Concerning higher education, prisoners who have
academic conditions and the resources to pursue a university
degree can choose to do so by distance. The centre must offer
facilities for those who wish to excel in this or other ways.
2.2. Circulation inside the prison
The discipline that should be maintained within
Ecuadorian prison centers means that objects of everyday
legal use outside are strictly prohibited within. However,
if there is one thing that persists as a dangerous criminal
activity, it is contraband: this is the motor and basis for all
other internal criminal activities, such as drug trafficking and
extortion. Contraband is well-known and even promoted by
the correctional officers, who receive specific fees for bringing
in and delivering prohibited objects to prisoners. Without any
control and in open contradiction with regulation, these guards
are the primary and worst smugglers. They are unaware of their
actions’ effects, which, beyond formal illegality, cause fights
and deaths. However, they consider it appropriate to receive
illegitimate money as payback for their dangerous work in their
mindset (UNODC, 2012, p. 13).
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
111
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
2.3. What objects are usually smuggled?
In a broad or generic sense, drugs include alcohol,
tobacco, cocaine, heroin, and other hard drugs. A case taken
at random among a series of interviews with ex-offenders is
surprising: on one occasion (not incredibly strange), an ex-
offender bought a 30-dollar bottle of whiskey from a guard
for 160. This was to culminate a celebration that had lasted
five days, smoking marijuana, acquired from “sorcerers,” and
drinking cane liquor obtained from the prison shopkeeper,
plus the tobacco bought in the same store. According to the
testimony, the drug dealers coordinated with the guards to pass
the substances and sell them inside the prison. This rotund
business was also used to entangle minor offenders in massive
crimes, such as murder, as punishment for failure to pay debts
(Rincón Moreno, et al., 2008, p. 46).
Drugs are easy to obtain.
For 1 or 2 dollars or higher
prices, depending on the type of narcotic, it is possible to get hold
of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, base, bazuco, heroin,
and even H. The circulation of these substances within the
centres is crucial since the uncontrollable dependence created
by consumption renders prisoners unable to protect themselves
from manipulation. There is no system to distinguish addicts
from non-addicts. It could be considered that the initial error
consists of trying to solve a problem of sociological origin with
legal and punitive action. It aggravates prisoners’ condition and
the illusion of freedom in the indiscriminate consumption of
psychotropic substances. (Rincón Moreno, et al., 2008, p. 45).
Cellphones.
There are no outlets or switches in the
new penitentiary centres since electronic devices such as
televisions, computers, and cell phones for personal use are
prohibited. It is not a rule that is followed, however. One way or
another, prisoners get cell phones to talk to their relatives and
their lawyers; or, frequently, to organize and direct criminal
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
112
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
activities, such as hired killers and drug trafficking. A 200 or
250-dollar cellphone price can be ten times more or even up to
$5,000 inside the prison. These objects thus become precious
goods among prisoners. Most strikingly, they make it possible
to communicate with prisoners in other social rehabilitation
centres.
There is frequent communication between prisoners
from different prisons. When a new prisoner enters the centre,
the rest of the prison population is already aware, demonstrating
the robust network of corruption and crime that transcends the
bars. This includes all the consequences, positive or negative:
whoever was protected from certain prisoners or groups will
be safe in the jail to which he is transferred. On the other hand,
prisoners who bring problems will have their days numbered
no matter how often they change location. All this is handled
through phone communication.
Moreover, Gil (2019) said:
If it is difficult to “hate the sin and love the sinner”, it
is equally difficult to tolerate some offenders and not
others. For this to be possible, the average citizen would
have to invest some of his or her time in the detailed
reflection that distinguishes not only between types
of crime but also between each case of offence, taking
into account the circumstances that qualify the facts,
the interplay of mitigating and aggravating factors. (p.
19)
Another “advantage” of the cellular is the possibility of
planning escapes. The prohibition of cell phones in the hands
of prisoners results from the latter. As we have seen, however,
smuggling (protected or encouraged by criminal guards)
circumvents these prohibitions.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
113
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Weapons are likewise smuggled. Drugs are a motive,
cell phones are how everything is planned, and weapons are
the tool to consummate illegal acts. These tools are varied
and unique. They range from forks stolen from dining rooms
or shaving razors to actual knives and revolvers hidden in
coves behind the walls or on cell floors. This depends on the
pavilion type or the class of the prisoner. The quality and type
of weapons existing in a pavilion were thus very different. In
the area’s housing, the most privileged prisoners were housed.
Some came to have weapons and a “guard service,” provided
by the prison hitmen. Other prisoners had the means barely to
obtain anything beyond commonly used utensils, which were
adapted as weapons (Losa, 2017).
3. POST PRISON
For Foucault (1976, p. 114-115), prisoners immersed
in solitude reflect criminal actions and punishment. Only living
the sanctions for their crime prisoners learn to hate them.
If their soul is not yet ravaged by evil, remorse will come to
assault them while in isolation. The criminal’s re-adaptation is
not requested under the exercise of common law; but rather by
the individual’s relationship with his conscience and with that
which can illuminate them from within (UNODC, 2013, p. 43).
A sentence of fifteen or twenty-five years is a significant
blow to a person. If not able to focus correctly, the person can
be drawn to adverse decisions.
In their testimonies, prisoners have recognized that
good therapy is the first thing they needed. The first help that
someone condemned to prison should receive allows them
to accept their reality best to strengthen their structure and
remember that all is not lost. Although the years may seem
endless, productive activities, visits from loved ones, and
constant psychological support can help reform the prisoner’s
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
114
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
personality which is continuously emphasized by modern
criminal law: achieving reintegration, rather than an ongoing
sense of resentment and revenge.
3.1. Rehabilitation or Reaffirmation?
In criminal policy, the foundation of prisons’ existence
is social rehabilitation; their success cannot always be affirmed.
In prison, corruption and violence discourage prisoners and
create constant mistrust, which causes an almost hostile living
environment. At times, prisoners cannot even relax for fear of
revenge, paybacks, and murders committed within the prison.
These occur insight of and sometimes with the authorities’
impassivity, who, for a small sum, are often willing to look the
other way. The actions and decisions taken by prison authorities
at times force us to reflect if they are qualified for this task;
or perhaps necessary to restructure the system with a new,
more qualified staff who are honest and aware of the social and
personal gravity duties (Moreno Torres, 2019, pp. 148-147).
The ex-prisoner’s ability to return and adapt to society
depends entirely on the prisoner and the reasons they find out.
Many of them wind up convinced of their abandonment and, in
the end, have no interest in leaving these four walls. They do
not feel that they lost their freedom. They have no interest in
that category of rights and liberties, as they have nowhere to go.
They do not know anyone, nor do they know how things are on
the outside. They thus prefer life in this hostile environment:
the only environment they know and, apparently, the only one
in which they can survive. There are testimonies from prisoners
who say that their family vanishes when they go into prison. If
they stay with them, their wives are unable to deal with more
than three years of separation.
This progressive abandonment leads prisoners to
become entangled with drug trafficking networks and other
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
115
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
connected crimes, such as extortion and contraband. This
allows him to feel useful once again. The money obtained also
allows for the consumption of drugs that provide an escape
from reality. A vicious circle thus begins that leads young
people who make a mistake into an absolute debacle. The path
towards disaster begins with simple jobs: alert services, small-
scale theft, and, finally, murders and extortion. This may end
up in a whole school of crime. Making a name for the prisoners
who will then be recruited by the mafias, drug traffickers, and
caporales for different purposes, none of which are lawful.
These activities place people in a world where it is complicated
to leave without the express will do so and without genuine
opportunities for another way of life (Romero Miranda, 2019,
pp. 48-50).
Reaffirmation and reinsertion lie in the prisoner’s will, self-
esteem and habits. While they claim that the prison is an actual
school of crime is not far from reality—since, in effect, it brings
together all types of infractors in a single space, allowing for a
dangerous symbiosis—it is the prisoner who decides which path
to take and which destiny to forge. Inside, whoever offers an
opportunity may also be the one to vanish whenever the utility
or benefit ceases to exist. On the other hand, prisoners who
learn to perform a trade, abstain from drug use, and strive—
without moving away from or resenting society—to assume
their wrongs, while aware of their dependence on a rotten
system, can overcome the violence they confront every day and
leave with hope.
3.2. Reintegration of Prisoners in Society
To motivate reintegration into society and to alleviate
the shortcomings of prison authorities and guards, a few
filtering and evaluation mechanisms were instituted. One was
the so-called “House of Trust.” This was a kind of antechamber
to society, in which prisoners about to complete their sentences
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
116
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
had a controlled approach that was closest to the external
reality. The aim was for the individual to do work and make
purchases. Behaviours were evaluated to understand the
prisoner’s degree of adaptation. The usefulness was only as
statistical data, however. Regardless of the prisoner’s response,
he was nonetheless released.
Those who cannot adapt to social life become repeat
offenders since they do not find the interest or desire to leave
the penitentiary. They feel unable to rehabilitate themselves.
They think that they no longer have opportunities in a society
that has moved on, so they prefer to remain ignorant. Lacking
friends and family, home, and employment opportunities, they
come to see their only exit as committing a crime to stay in the
only environment they know in prison.
The social isolation experienced by prisoners impacts
them so we can say that the proper punishment for a person
deprived of liberty is not only to fulfill their sentence behind
bars; instead, it begins now reentering society after so much
time away. Only the consolation of religion remains. It is rapists
who most seek out God. Nevertheless, there are also desperate
situations; many convicted of rape are not, in fact, guilty. The
criminal and judicial structure itself is what operated against
these offenders of crimes they did not commit: a fight with a
partner who, opportunely advised by others, initiated a process
from which it was impossible to retract. The State’s threat of
prosecuting the reporter of rape, for mocking justice, ends in
a long sentence, embittered by injustice (Vázquez Martínez &
Bazán Mayagoitia, 2019, pp. 106-111).
CONCLUSIONS
There is an atmosphere of violence in detention
centres, and both prisoners and custodians cause it. Also, there
are specific environments of camaraderie.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
117
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
However, drug trafficking inside the prison negatively
conditions the social reintegration of addicts to drugs. Prisoners
do not receive adequate treatment and thus continue to move
deeper into criminal activities: they can rob, kill and prostitute
themselves to obtain drugs, which is their only means of
forgetting their reality and, in cases of addiction, combating
withdrawal syndromes.
Until the new penitentiary plan, there was no distinction
between the prisoners’ crimes, behaviour, or aggressiveness. In
this way, the entire center’s security was affected. Cells for all
types of crimes are shared, whether against the Public Treasury,
against life, or private property.
The lack of education reduces opportunities for people
to perform lawful activities when they leave prison or opt for
self-improvement. It motivates criminal activities. Also, it
prevents them from visualizing the real impact of their actions,
and an environment conducive to crime is formed. It is offered
as a response to coercion and the consequent perspective of
authority as an enemy.
Violence is daily inside prisons. It is part of the center’s
shared culture, although it allows for a gradation. Violence by
guards is especially severe because they rely on their authority,
and control over everything, and, even in the opinion of former
convicts, they present themselves above everyone else and
violate prisoners’ rights. The caporales, the most respected
prisoners and representatives of the prison community, exercise
repressive violence to maintain their power over prisoners.
Finally, there are continuous fights over the most varied issues
among the common criminals, killing for hire, and the extortion
requested by the other groups mentioned.
Drug trafficking and extortion exist and operate within
prison centers. However, they occur differently in each space.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
118
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
For example, in pretrial detention centres, extortion is the most
popular business since there is money there. For a loan of 1 or 2
dollars between prisoners, a quota of up to 50 to 70 dollars can
be charged. Drug trafficking occurs more easily inside the jails
since that is where it is possible to draw in the prisoners so that,
unable to pay their debts, he “works” at the creditor’s orders,
carrying out murders or robberies.
Now of reinsertion, the house of trust is instituted to ease
into life on the outside. At least tendentially, the teaching received
in workshops and the opportunities to pursue a university
career are also facilitated. Without a doubt, this opens various
doors. Today, prisoners can even carry out entrepreneurship
projects inside the center and continue these as challenging and
remunerated jobs once they are freed. Together with the social
participation in prison work, this is an excellent opportunity to
find new meaning in society and a dignified way of living, away
from crime, drugs, and penitentiary centres.
REFERENCES
Aguirre, A., León, T. and Ribadeneira, N. (2020). Sistema
penitenciario y población penalizada durante la
Revolución Ciudadana (2007-2017).
URVIO. Revista
Latinoamericana de Estudios de Seguridad
, (27), pp. 94-
110. doi.org/10.17141/urvio.27.2020.4303
Alós de Moner, R., Martín Artiles, A., Miguélez Lobo, F. and
Gibert Badía, F. (2009). ¿Sirve el trabajo penitenciario
para la reinserción? Un estudio a partir de las opiniones
de los presos de las cárceles de Cataluña.
Revi
sta
Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (REIS)
, 127 (1).
Alvarado, A. (2019). Organizaciones criminales en América
Latina: una discusión conceptual y un marco
comparativo para su reinterpretación.
Revista Brasileira
de Sociologia
, 7 (17), pp. 11-32.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
119
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Baratta, A. (2006).
Criminología y sistema penal
. (Compilación
in memoriam). Buenos Aires: Euros Editores
S.R.L. Retrieved from: https://colectivociajpp.files.
wordpress.com/2012/08/criminologc3ada-y-sistema-
penal-baratta.pdf
Cabrera Forneiro, J. (2005). Nuevas drogas, juventud y prisión.
Revista de estudios de juventud,
(69).
El Universo. (24th March, 2013). Cárceles inseguras,
están dominadas por mafias que extorsionan
El
Universo.
Retrieved from
: https://www.eluniverso.
com/2013/03/24/1/1422/carceles-inseguras-estan-
dominadas-mafias-extorsionan.html
Castillo, M. (2017).
Miedo, control social y política criminal.
Madrid: Dykinson S. L.
Cuesta Arzamendi, J. L. (1982).
El trabajo penitenciario
resocializador.
Caja de Ahorros y Provincial de
Guipúzcoa.
Foucault, M. (1976).
Vigilar y castigar.
Paris: Editions Gallimard.
Retrieved from
: https://www.ivanillich.org.mx/
Foucault-Castigar.pdf
Giacomello, C. (2013).
Género, drogas y prisión: experiencias de
mujeres privadas de su libertad en México
. México: Tirant
Lo Blanch.
Gil Villa, F. (2019). La función social punitiva en Iberoamérica.
Circunstancias globales y locales.
URVIO Revista
Latinoamericana de Estudios de Seguridad
, (24), pp. 10-
25. https://doi.org/10.17141/urvio.24.2019.3762
Hulsman, L. and Bernat de Celis, J. (1984).
Sistema penal y
seguridad ciudadana, hacia una alternativa.
Barcelona:
Editorial Ariel.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
120
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
INEC. (2019).
Boletín técnico N°02-2019-ENEMDU
.
Retrieved from
: https://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.
ec/documentos/web-inec/EMPLEO/2019/Marzo/
Boletin_mar2019.pdf
Jácome, A. I. (2005).
El Monstruo de los Andes: Aproximación
Psicoanalítica a un caso de asesino en serie.
(Trabajo
de Titulación). Pontificia Universidad Católica del
Ecuador: Quito, Ecuador.
Losa, G. (16th September, 2017). Ingreso de celulares a cárceles,
un negocio que se vale hasta de niños.
El Observador.
Retrieved from
: https://www.elobservador.com.uy/
nota/ingreso-de-celulares-a-carceles-un-negocio-que-
se-vale-hasta-de-ninos-2017916500
Manzanos Bilbao, C. (1998). Salir de Prisión: La otra condena.
Revista de Servicios Sociales
, 35, pp. 64-70.
Moreno Torres, A. I. (2019). El delito como castigo: las cárceles
colombianas.
URVIO,
Revista Latinoamericana de
Estudios de Seguridad,
(24), pp. 134-149.
Retrieved
from
: https://revistas.flacsoandes.edu.ec/urvio/issue/
download/171/210
Moreno, C. and Guerra, N. (2018).
Consecuencias
Psicológicas del Encarcelamiento de Larga Duración
y Propuestas de Mejora.
Conference: XI Congreso
(Inter)Nacional de Psicología Jurídica y Forense, At
Granada
.
Retrieved from
: https://www.researchgate.
net/publication/326649827_CONSECUENCIAS_
PSICOLOGICAS_DEL_ENCARCELAMIENTO_DE_
LARGA_DURACION_Y_PROPUESTAS_DE_MEJORA
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
121
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Oficina de las Naciones Unidas Contra la Droga y el Delito.
(2012).
Delincuencia Organizada Transnacional
en Centroamérica y el Caribe: Una Evaluación de
las Amenazas
. Viena: ONODC.
Retrieved from
:
https://www.acnur.org/fileadmin/Documentos/
Publicaciones/2016/10436.pdf?view=1
Oficina de las Naciones Unidas Contra la Droga y el Delito.
(2013).
Prevención de la Reincidencia y la Reintegración
Social de Delincuentes.
Nueva York: UNODC.
Retrieved
from
: https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-
and-prison-reform/UNODC_SocialReintegration_
ESP_LR_final_online_version.pdf
Quinatoa Tacuri, G. E. (2017). Análisis económico de la política
penitenciaria - Propuesta de sistema penitenciario
privado.
Revista Facultad De Jurisprudencia
, 1 (2).
https://doi.org/10.26807/rfj.v1i2.21
Redacción Justicia. (27th October, 2015). Privados de la
libertad encuentran en el arte una forma de ser libres.
El Telégrafo
.
Retrieved from
: https://www.eltelegrafo.
com.ec/noticias/judicial/12/privados-de-la-libertad-
encuentran-en-el-arte-una-forma-de-ser-libres
Rincón Moreno, S., Vera Remartínez, E., García Guerrero, J.
and Planelles Ramos, M. V. (2008). Consumo de drogas
al ingreso en prisión: comparación entre población
española y extranjera.
Revista Española de Sanidad
Penitenciaria,
10(2).
Romero Miranda, A. (2019). Prisionización: estructura y
dinámica del fenómeno en cárceles estatales del
sistema penal chileno. URVIO,
Revista Latinoamericana
de Estudios de Seguridad,
(24), (pp. 42-58).
Retrieved
from
: https://revistas.flacsoandes.edu.ec/urvio/issue/
download/171/210
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
122
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Sancha Mata, V. and García García, J. (1987). Tratamiento
Psicológico-Penitenciario.
Papeles del Psicólogo
, 30.
Retrieved from
: http://www.papelesdelpsicologo.es/
resumen?pii=325
Vásconez, A. (2006).
Proyecto: Diagnóstico del Sistema
Penitenciario. Cárcel, Mujeres y sobrevivencia.
Ecuador:
FLACSO.
Retrieved from
: http://www.flacso.org.ec/
docs/carcelmujeres_avasconez.pdf
Vázquez Martínez, A. E. and Bazán Mayagoitia, N. D. (2019).
Justicia restaurativa y reintegración social: retos
procedimentales y estructurales.
URVIO
,
Revista
Latinoamericana de Estudios de Seguridad,
(24), pp. 98-
113.
Retrieved from
: https://revistas.flacsoandes.edu.
ec/urvio/issue/download/171/210
Vives Antón, T. (1996).
Fundamentos del sistema penal.
Tirant
lo Blanch.
Zaffaroni, E. (2015).
La filosofía del sistema penitenciario en
el mundo contemporáneo.
Revista Themis
, 35, pp.
179-191. Retrieved from: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/
descarga/articulo/5109535.pdf
Zambrano Pasquel A. (1994).
Cárcel y drogas.
Guayaquil: Edino.
Zambrano Pasquel, A. (2009).
Política Criminal.
Lima: Jurista
Editores.
Sosa, F.
Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime
123
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Received:
01/11/2019
Accepted:
24/05/2022
Frank Steven Sosa Gangotena
: Independent legal researcher.
E-mail:
fsosa@gmail.com
City:
Quito
Country:
Ecuador
ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1210-147X