National Penitentiary Institute (Peru)
Encyclopedia
The National Penitentiary Institute of Peru
(Spanish: Instituto Nacional Penitenciario, INPE) is the government agency
charged with incarcerating
convicts and suspects charged with crimes. It is part of the Peruvian government's Ministry of Justice
.
s, the bosses among the inmates.
Since 2000, the International Red Cross
has been working with Peruvian authorities to help control the widespread transmission of tuberculosis
and HIV
among the overcrowded prison population.
In 2008, Justice minister Rosario Fernández Figueroa announced a commission to evaluate and recommend a plan to privatize
the prison systems under the supervision of INPE. INPE operates 56 of the country's 71 prisons while the National Police of Peru
(PNP) has jurisdiction over the rest.
declared Lori Berenson
a political prisoner
, bringing worldwide attention to the prison system of Peru. She was sentenced to life imprisonment
for treason
because of her association with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
. As the conditions of her incarceration were widely reported, she was transferred from Yanamayo prison high in the Andes
, to Socabaya prison, Huacariz prison, and finally Santa Mónica women's prison in Chorrillos until she was conditionally parole
d in May 2010, after stating that joining the revolutionary group was a mistake. Following public outcry over her early release, her parole was revoked on August 16, 2010, and she was returned to prison with her baby son. In Peru, young children are permitted to be incarcerated with their mothers until the age of 3. Berenson was again granted conditional parole in November 2010.
In February 2008, television stations broadcast parts of the "Melodies of Freedom" talent competition
which was held between prisons across Lima. The winning inmate won a guitar, trophy, and a pair of shoes.
, Lima
, became the subject of a media circus
when it was assigned Joran van der Sloot
, who is accused of the murder of Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez. The prison's previous director was gunned down outside his home in retaliation for his disciplinary measures and the prison itself is named after the warden of another facility who was slain by Shining Path
rebels in 1985. Unlike other Peruvian prisons, the general population at Miguel Castro Castro is not permitted to circulate freely and inmates are restricted to individual buildings within the prison. A courthouse was built on the prison grounds to reduce the risk of escape
attempts while transporting inmates to judicial hearings.
On August 23, 2010, the Office of Internal Affairs began administrative and disciplinary action when Peruvian television network América Televisión aired a picture of Joran van der Sloot with three other inmates that had been taken with official photographic equipment at Miguel Castro Castro prison. The photo included Van der Sloot casually posing with Colombian hitman
Hugo Trujillo Ospina, accused of the contract killing
of Peruvian entrepreneur Myriam Fefer, and American William Trickett Smith II, accused of killing and dismembering
his Peruvian wife. Van der Sloot and Smith have been referred to by local media as "the foreigners accused of the most talked-about assassinations in our country."
In September 2010, Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries
visited the prison while accompanied by a documentary
crew and Beth Holloway
, whose daughter Natalee
was last seen with Van der Sloot in Aruba
before disappearing in 2005. According to Peruvian television program 24 Horas, Holloway spoke with Van der Sloot briefly before he cancelled the meeting because his attorney was not present. Holloway was removed from the prison after a hidden camera
was reportedly discovered by the guards. A penitentiary institute spokesperson stated that Holloway's name was not found in the prison's visitor registry. Representatives for Holloway and De Vries denied that a hidden camera was involved nor was anything seized. However, the video premiered in November 2010 on SBS6
in the Netherlands and CBS
in the United States, resulting in the suspension of Miguel Castro Castro prison warden Alex Samamé Peña.
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
(Spanish: Instituto Nacional Penitenciario, INPE) is the government agency
Government agency
A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...
charged with incarcerating
Incarceration
Incarceration is the detention of a person in prison, typically as punishment for a crime .People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a crime, and different jurisdictions have differing laws governing the function of incarceration within a larger system of...
convicts and suspects charged with crimes. It is part of the Peruvian government's Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (Peru)
The Ministry of Justice of Peru is the government ministry charged with advising the President of Peru in judicial matters.The ministry is responsible, among other matters, for the national prison system as well as the state's relationship with the Roman Catholic Church in Peru.The current...
.
History
The Inspector General of Prisons was first established by Article 26 of the Penal Code of 1924. After becoming Inspector General on March 28, 1928, Dr. Bernardino León y León launched major reforms and changed the title to Director General of Prisons.Capacity
In 2009, the prison population totaled 44,800 inmates (0.15% of the national population), though the nation's prisons were built for a capacity of 22,540. 2,794 of the inmates were women. Only 17,297 of the inmates have been sentenced in court, while many of the rest are held in pretrial detention at police stations and judiciary buildings. Most pretrial detainees are held with convicted prisoners. Because of understaffing, guards leave the internal operation of large prisons, including the management of commerce, to taitaTaita
Taita may refer to:* Taita people, a Kenyan ethnic group; also their language* Taitā, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt City* Taita Hills, mountain range in Kenya* Taita Line, a railway line in Gifu prefecture, Japan...
s, the bosses among the inmates.
Since 2000, the International Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
has been working with Peruvian authorities to help control the widespread transmission of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
among the overcrowded prison population.
In 2008, Justice minister Rosario Fernández Figueroa announced a commission to evaluate and recommend a plan to privatize
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
the prison systems under the supervision of INPE. INPE operates 56 of the country's 71 prisons while the National Police of Peru
National Police of Peru
The Peruvian National Police is the national police force of Peru. Its jurisdiction covers the nation's land, sea, and air territories. Formed from the merger of the Investigative Police, the Civil Guard, and the Republican Guard in 1988, it is one of the largest police forces in Latin America...
(PNP) has jurisdiction over the rest.
Media coverage
In 1998, Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
declared Lori Berenson
Lori Berenson
Lori Helene Berenson is an American convicted in Peru of unlawful collaboration with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement , which the Peruvian government regarded as a terrorist organization, and which had committed numerous attacks in attempting to overthrow the government...
a political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
, bringing worldwide attention to the prison system of Peru. She was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
because of her association with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement was a Marxist revolutionary group active in Peru from the early 1980s to 1997 and one of the main actors in the internal conflict in Peru...
. As the conditions of her incarceration were widely reported, she was transferred from Yanamayo prison high in the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
, to Socabaya prison, Huacariz prison, and finally Santa Mónica women's prison in Chorrillos until she was conditionally parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
d in May 2010, after stating that joining the revolutionary group was a mistake. Following public outcry over her early release, her parole was revoked on August 16, 2010, and she was returned to prison with her baby son. In Peru, young children are permitted to be incarcerated with their mothers until the age of 3. Berenson was again granted conditional parole in November 2010.
In February 2008, television stations broadcast parts of the "Melodies of Freedom" talent competition
Talent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...
which was held between prisons across Lima. The winning inmate won a guitar, trophy, and a pair of shoes.
Miguel Castro Castro prison
On June 11, 2010, Miguel Castro Castro prison in San Juan de LuriganchoSan Juan de Lurigancho
San Juan de Lurigancho is a district in Lima, Peru, located in the area known as Cono Este. It is sometimes referred to as simple "SJL" on various forms of transportation...
, Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, became the subject of a media circus
Media circus
Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype...
when it was assigned Joran van der Sloot
Joran van der Sloot
Joran Andreas Petrus van der Sloot is a Dutch national who lived in Aruba. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States for wire fraud and extortion related to the whereabouts of Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005, and is charged in Peru with the...
, who is accused of the murder of Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez. The prison's previous director was gunned down outside his home in retaliation for his disciplinary measures and the prison itself is named after the warden of another facility who was slain by Shining Path
Shining Path
Shining Path is a Maoist guerrilla terrorist organization in Peru. The group never refers to itself as "Shining Path", and as several other Peruvian groups, prefers to be called the "Communist Party of Peru" or "PCP-SL" in short...
rebels in 1985. Unlike other Peruvian prisons, the general population at Miguel Castro Castro is not permitted to circulate freely and inmates are restricted to individual buildings within the prison. A courthouse was built on the prison grounds to reduce the risk of escape
Prison escape
A prison escape or prison break is the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part of authorities to recapture them and return them to their original detainers...
attempts while transporting inmates to judicial hearings.
On August 23, 2010, the Office of Internal Affairs began administrative and disciplinary action when Peruvian television network América Televisión aired a picture of Joran van der Sloot with three other inmates that had been taken with official photographic equipment at Miguel Castro Castro prison. The photo included Van der Sloot casually posing with Colombian hitman
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
Hugo Trujillo Ospina, accused of the contract killing
Contract killing
Contract killing is a form of murder, in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an illegal agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for consideration, monetary, or otherwise. The hiring party may...
of Peruvian entrepreneur Myriam Fefer, and American William Trickett Smith II, accused of killing and dismembering
Dismemberment
Dismemberment is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the limbs of a living thing. It may be practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, as a result of a traumatic accident, or in connection with murder, suicide, or cannibalism...
his Peruvian wife. Van der Sloot and Smith have been referred to by local media as "the foreigners accused of the most talked-about assassinations in our country."
In September 2010, Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries
Peter R. de Vries
Peter Rudolf de Vries is a Dutch Investigative Journalist and crime reporter. His television program covers high profile cases and set a Dutch television viewing record. In 2005, he started his own political party which was disbanded soon after.-Early life and career:Peter Rudolf de Vries was born...
visited the prison while accompanied by a documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
crew and Beth Holloway
Beth Holloway
Elizabeth Ann Reynolds "Beth" Holloway, also previously known as Beth Twitty, is an American speech pathologist and motivational speaker. Holloway specializes in teaching special needs children in public schools...
, whose daughter Natalee
Natalee Holloway
Natalee Ann Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. An American student from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Holloway graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005, shortly before the trip...
was last seen with Van der Sloot in Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
before disappearing in 2005. According to Peruvian television program 24 Horas, Holloway spoke with Van der Sloot briefly before he cancelled the meeting because his attorney was not present. Holloway was removed from the prison after a hidden camera
Hidden camera
A hidden camera is a still or video camera used to film people without their knowledge. The camera is "hidden" because it is either not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another object...
was reportedly discovered by the guards. A penitentiary institute spokesperson stated that Holloway's name was not found in the prison's visitor registry. Representatives for Holloway and De Vries denied that a hidden camera was involved nor was anything seized. However, the video premiered in November 2010 on SBS6
SBS6
SBS 6 is a commercial TV channel in the Netherlands owned by Sanoma and Talpa Holding . Other channels of the group in the Netherlands are NET 5 and Veronica.- History :SBS stands for Scandinavian Broadcasting System...
in the Netherlands and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in the United States, resulting in the suspension of Miguel Castro Castro prison warden Alex Samamé Peña.
San Pedro prison
San Pedro prison, also located at San Juan de Lurigancho, is one of Peru's largest and most overcrowded facilities with 11,500 inmates in a space for 2,500. In August 2010, Dutch drug trafficker Jason Sanford Staling Conquet killed 22-year-old girlfriend Leslie Dayán Paredes Silva while she visited him at the prison for sex. He wrapped her remains in a blanket and attempted to conceal it with brick and mortar, but guards were alerted by the odor of decomposition. Prison officials stated that monitoring the inmate population is difficult, because 14,000 people pass through the prison each day.Prisons
| Prison | Location | Inmates | Notable inmates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canto Grande | San Juan de Lurigancho San Juan de Lurigancho San Juan de Lurigancho is a district in Lima, Peru, located in the area known as Cono Este. It is sometimes referred to as simple "SJL" on various forms of transportation... , Lima Lima Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima... |
— | |
| Challapalca | Puno Province Puno Province Puno is a province in the Puno Region, in southeastern Peru. It borders the provinces of Huancane, San Román, El Collao and the Moquegua Region's province of General Sánchez Cerro. Its capital is the city of Puno, which is located at the edge of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake... |
95 | |
| El Frontón | El Frontón Island El Frontón El Frontón is an island off the coast of Callao, Peru.For much of El Frontón's history, the island was used as a prison. Fernando Belaúnde Terry, who was twice president of Peru, was imprisoned on the island as a political prisoner. During his imprisonment, Belaúnde Terry made an unsuccessful... , Callao Callao Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost... |
— | Fernando Belaúnde Terry Fernando Belaúnde Terry Fernando Belaúnde Terry was President of Peru for two non-consecutive terms . Deposed by a military coup in 1968, he was re-elected in 1980 after eleven years of military rule... (released), Hugo Blanco Hugo Blanco Hugo Blanco is a popular Venezuelan musician. He is best known as the author of "Moliendo Café" and other songs like "El Burrito de Belén" , "Leche Condensada", "Luces de Caracas", "Sierra Nevada", "Mañanita Zuliana", and others... (expelled) |
| El Sepa | Loreto Region Loreto Region Loreto is Peru's northernmost region. Covering almost one-third of Peru's territory, Loreto is by far the nation's largest region and also one of the most sparsely populated ones, due to its remote location in the Amazon Rainforest... |
— | |
| Huacariz | Cajamarca Cajamarca Cajamarca may refer to:Colombia*Cajamarca, Tolima a town and municipality in Tolima DepartmentPeru* Cajamarca, city in Peru.* Cajamarca District, district in the Cajamarca province.* Cajamarca Province, province in the Cajamarca region.... |
— | Lori Berenson Lori Berenson Lori Helene Berenson is an American convicted in Peru of unlawful collaboration with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement , which the Peruvian government regarded as a terrorist organization, and which had committed numerous attacks in attempting to overthrow the government... (transferred) |
| Miguel Castro Castro | San Juan de Lurigancho San Juan de Lurigancho San Juan de Lurigancho is a district in Lima, Peru, located in the area known as Cono Este. It is sometimes referred to as simple "SJL" on various forms of transportation... , Lima Lima Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima... |
2,300 | Hugo Trujillo Ospina, Joran van der Sloot Joran van der Sloot Joran Andreas Petrus van der Sloot is a Dutch national who lived in Aruba. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States for wire fraud and extortion related to the whereabouts of Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005, and is charged in Peru with the... , William Trickett Smith II |
| San Lorenzo Naval Base | San Lorenzo Island San Lorenzo Island, Peru San Lorenzo Island is the largest island of Peru. The island is in the Pacific Ocean near the port of Callao and measures .-Access:As of 2011, San Lorenzo is not open to the public... , Callao Callao Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost... |
— | Abimael Guzmán Abimael Guzmán Manuel Rubén Abimael Guzmán Reynoso , also known by the nom de guerre Presidente Gonzalo , a former professor of philosophy, was the leader of the Shining Path during the Maoist insurgency known as the internal conflict in Peru... , Vladimiro Montesinos Vladimiro Montesinos Vladimiro Ilyich Montesinos Torres was the long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional , under President Alberto Fujimori. In 2000, secret videos, which he had recorded, were televised that showed his bribing an elected congressman to leave the opposition... , Víctor Polay Víctor Polay Víctor Polay Campos is one of the founders of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, a Peruvian guerrilla organization that fought in the internal conflict in Peru... , Óscar Ramírez Óscar Ramírez Óscar Ramírez Durand , who is commonly known as Comrade Feliciano, was one of the leaders of the Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla movement in Peru.... |
| San Pedro | San Juan de Lurigancho San Juan de Lurigancho San Juan de Lurigancho is a district in Lima, Peru, located in the area known as Cono Este. It is sometimes referred to as simple "SJL" on various forms of transportation... , Lima Lima Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima... |
11,500 | Jason Sanford Staling Conquet |
| Santa Bárbara | Lima Lima Metropolitan Area The Lima Metropolitan Area , is an area formed by the conurbation of the Peruvian cities of Lima and Callao. It is the largest metropolitan area in Peru, the eighth largest in the Americas, and among the thirty largest in the world. The conurbation process started to be evident in the 1980s. The... |
— | |
| Santa Mónica | Chorrillos, Lima Province Lima Province Lima Province is located in the central coast of Peru and is the only province in the country not belonging to any of the twenty-five regions. Its capital is Lima, which is also the nation's capital.... |
— | Lori Berenson Lori Berenson Lori Helene Berenson is an American convicted in Peru of unlawful collaboration with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement , which the Peruvian government regarded as a terrorist organization, and which had committed numerous attacks in attempting to overthrow the government... (paroled) |
| Socabaya | Socabaya, Arequipa Province Arequipa Province Arequipa is a province in the Arequipa Region, Peru. It is the most populous province of the region, and its capital, Arequipa, is Peru's second-largest city... |
— | Lori Berenson Lori Berenson Lori Helene Berenson is an American convicted in Peru of unlawful collaboration with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement , which the Peruvian government regarded as a terrorist organization, and which had committed numerous attacks in attempting to overthrow the government... (transferred) |
| Yanamayo | Puno Province Puno Province Puno is a province in the Puno Region, in southeastern Peru. It borders the provinces of Huancane, San Román, El Collao and the Moquegua Region's province of General Sánchez Cerro. Its capital is the city of Puno, which is located at the edge of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake... |
400 | Lori Berenson Lori Berenson Lori Helene Berenson is an American convicted in Peru of unlawful collaboration with the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement , which the Peruvian government regarded as a terrorist organization, and which had committed numerous attacks in attempting to overthrow the government... (transferred) |
External links
- Instituto Nacional Penitenciario (Official site - Spanish)
- Instituto Nacional Penitenciario at UniversidadPeru.com
- Peru - Penal System at Country-Data.com
- ICRC Annual Report 2003 - Lima at International Committee of the Red CrossInternational Committee of the Red CrossThe International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...