Female incarceration and prison life in Chile: findings from a national study

Abstract

In recent years, there have been more significant concerns around the situation of incarcerated women in Latin America, their links with drug-related crimes, and the limitations of the current prison system to offer meaningful responses to their needs. Nevertheless, empirical data about them in the region are scarce. To fill out part of this gap, we employed data from a national, quantitative study in Chile in 2022 and analyzed the situation of incarcerated women in various aspects. The results show that the most problematic elements of female prison life would be boredom, high drug consumption, psychological suffering, and minimal program access, all of which speak of a prison environment that is not very sensitive or supportive of women’s needs. On the other hand, infrastructure conditions, relationship with guards, and resilience behind bars were aspects positively evaluated by incarcerated women, offering space for hope and innovative interventions. The OLS regression model accounted for 50.8% of the variation in meaning making within our sample, with significant, positive predictors being a fair treating by prison guards, a perception that guards take care of them, and having access to job or vocational training. A high drug consumption perceived in the facility, higher access to paramedic and having greater amounts of food were indicative of difficulties in meaning making. Altogether, these finding suggest that supportive, fair guards, combined with the generation of job skills, income opportunities, and drug free environments may be supportive of women’s meaning making and resilience behind bars.