This collection of papers is part of a rich and emerging literature on prisons in Latin America and constitutes a new wave of empirical studies devoted to one of the most salient crises the region is facing: mass incarceration. As such, ICJR is contributing to unpacking a set of largely understudied topics, and that will surely contribute to further research and draw lessons on how to engage with several unique characteristics of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) prisons in search of answers to this acute crisis. Latin America and the Caribbean countries have at least doubled the number of inmates over the last 20 years and, as the Limoncelli et al. paper shows, grew at a regional pace of 2.3% per year. In some countries, there was even a 3-fold increase in the number of prisoners, and the trend does not seem to abate. This large growth in the number of prisoners has contributed to overcrowding, to declining health conditions and reduced vocational training services, larger drug abuse problems, and numerous other negative externalities. One of the most severe unintentional consequences of this growth in incarceration has been the rising level of violence inside prisons. In this special issue, the reader will be able to examine the scope and nature of such narratives of violence. Ariza and Iturralde examine the causes and consequences of changing patterns of carceral violence. Latin American and Caribbean prisons have distinct features as they compared to North American or European countries. Despite budget increases, larger recruitment of personnel, and the construction of new facilities, the penitentiary systems remain chronically underfunded, while old and deteriorated facilities house larger cohorts of new admissions, and as opposed to most places in the Global North, very high pretrial detention rates and high turnover of people passing through the system. This has important social effects because the stock of inmates at a given time hides the real number of individuals who have been behind bars over the last decades. As more people are incarcerated, they can develop allegiance with gangs inside and outside prisons. New studies (such as the ones offered here by Gundur, by Weegles, and by Peirce and Fondevila) showcase in rich detail the new patterns of violence that have developed in Latin American prisons. In general, the five articles in this special issue present significant innovations for Latin American prisons’ studies, as well as some lessons for scholarship on penitentiary systems in the Global North.

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拉丁美洲监狱暴力新研究的见解

这本论文集是关于拉丁美洲监狱的丰富和新兴文献的一部分，构成了新一波的实证研究浪潮，致力于该地区面临的最突出的危机之一：大规模监禁。因此，ICJR 正在帮助解开一系列未被充分研究的主题，这肯定会有助于进一步研究并吸取教训，了解如何利用拉丁美洲和加勒比 (LAC) 监狱的几个独特特征来寻找答案严重的危机。在过去的 20 年里，拉丁美洲和加勒比国家的囚犯人数至少翻了一番，正如 Limoncelli 等人所说。纸显示，以每年 2.3% 的区域速度增长。在一些国家，囚犯人数甚至增加了3倍，而且这种趋势似乎没有减弱。囚犯人数的大幅增长导致了过度拥挤、健康状况下降和职业培训服务减少、药物滥用问题以及许多其他负面外部因素。监禁人数增加的最严重的无意后果之一是监狱内暴力程度的上升。在本期特刊中，读者将能够审视此类暴力叙事的范围和性质。Ariza 和 Iturralde 研究了不断变化的监狱暴力模式的原因和后果。与北美或欧洲国家相比，拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的监狱具有鲜明的特点。尽管预算增加、人员招聘增加以及新设施的建设，监狱系统仍然长期资金不足，虽然旧的和恶化的设施容纳了更多的新入院者，与全球北部的大多数地方相比，审前拘留率非常高，而且通过该系统的人员流动率很高。这具有重要的社会影响，因为特定时间的囚犯人数隐藏了过去几十年被关押的真实人数。随着越来越多的人被监禁，他们可以效忠于监狱内外的帮派。新的研究（例如 Gundur、Weegles 以及 Peirce 和 Fondevila 提供的研究）详细展示了拉丁美洲监狱中发展起来的新暴力模式。总的来说，本期特刊中的五篇文章为拉丁美洲监狱研究提供了重大创新，