In this chapter we present the main questions that underlie this work: Why has incarceration exploded in Latin America, and why have policies of mass incarceration failed to reduce criminality. After reviewing the literature and describing the sources of data used, this chapter develops the theory of endogenous acceleration (i.e., the concept that prisons drive up crime because they breed the conditions for offenders to continue their criminal careers – either from inside prisons or when they come out), within a general context of deficient state deterrence and failed incapacitation policies. This chapter reviews different theoretical approaches to the problem, describes the main findings of our research and lays out the hypotheses and the social mechanisms that help to explain the current prison crisis. The chapter ends with a brief description of the data collected and a summary of each of the chapters that follow.

Chapter 2 describes our critical variable, prison population growth, with its trends and patterns. We present data for eighteen countries to document the rapid rise in the prison population and lend proof of its accelerated growth. The chapter analyzes whether the sharp increases resulted from flow (more people incarcerated) or from stock (longer sentences), and evaluates the consequences of each growth pattern. We then characterize the crimes committed by the inmate population (drugs, theft, homicide, etc.), and the type of felonies that were targeted by the criminal justice systems (police, prosecutors and judges). We conclude this chapter by examining the characteristics of inmates locked up in Latin American prisons, their profiles, sociodemographic traits, background, and upbringing.

Chapter 7 presents a description of daily prison life in order to evaluate prison environments and rehabilitation programs. Based on inmates’ self-reports from surveys, we analyze the depth and impact of overcrowding, the supply of basic services (food and health), rehabilitation and training programs (schooling and work inside prisons), health services, social life, and criminal networks. We show that the supply of goods and services in most prisons is deficient and creates profit opportunities for criminal networks; that most rehabilitation programs fail; and that preparations for reentry are very poor, contributing to high rates of recidivism.

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.