Thoughts on prison system and increases in crime: The Ecuadorian Case

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 problems: a view of authority figures, or those who remain at a higher hierarchical level, with rancour and enmity.

 JEL CODE: K10, K14.