ICPA 21st AGM and Conference

Facility Visits *


Overview


On Friday 1 November, delegates will have the opportunity to visit facilities in Buenos Aires to gain a greater understanding into the delivery of prison and conditional release services. A detailed agenda for each visit will be available soon. A brief overview of each of the sites is included. Please be aware that some details may be subject to change.
 
 

 
 

  FEDERAL PRISON COMPLEX I

Housing Areas

Usable Operational Capacity: 1943 inmates

Security Level: Category A

Prison Population: Male inmates

Facility’s characteristics:

It was inaugurated in 1999 and it is distributed in 8 housing units: Admissions’ Residential Unit, Residential Unit I, Residential Unit II, Residential Unit III, Residential Unit IV, Residential Unit V and Residential Unit VI.

In this facility we can also find the Central Prison Hospital I which delivers the Inter-ministerial Program for Mental Health in Argentina (PRISMA).

History

It was the first South American prison built under a new concept of prison architecture characterized by individual cells, autonomy of residential units and flexibility to optimize inmates’ classification and treatment.

Interventions

In this prison, the interdisciplinary approach on prison suicide was consolidated through the implementation of an approach model based on the specific detection and intervention of suicide risk. This approach enables an objective criteria to tackle prison suicide on the basis of situational factors. The program allows for the early detection of suicide risk and the implementation of a specific action protocol built on the basis of the detected risk levels emanated from the Initial Risk Assessment (CIR). It also measures the suicide risk level of new inmates on entering the system.

The FPC I also delivers a program known as Index to Reduce the Degrees of Corruptibility (IRIC) which addresses the specific profiles features of housed inmates such as high purchasing power, links with organized crimes or economic crime gangs or proven ability of influencing or infiltrating high government echelons or political powers. This program aims at reducing the risks of conflict, violence, corruption, manipulation and infiltration by providing the members of staff with the right tools to tackle these specific risks and needs and to guarantee the appropriate functioning of the prison system.

Taking into consideration the criminogenic needs stated on the sentence plan and the vocational training programs this prison delivers the following workshops: aluminum metallic carpentry, presswork, dress and shoe making, Braille books, etc. The intervention goals of these workshops are the improvement of labor performance and the connection of inmates with different jobs thus generating suitable conditions for former inmates to work in the community and improve their job satisfaction.

The Central Prison Hospital I is one of the most modern medical centers of the country it has an emergency room and outpatient clinics for inmates housed at FPC I and at other facilities located in the province of Buenos Aires

This facility also delivers the “Program for the Detection of Drug Use and its Specific Intervention according to Inmate’s Risk Levels”. This assistance program is delivered at the Rehabilitation Center for Drug Addicts (CRD) which offers a specific approach for inmates who suffer drug-related problems and who need a more comprehensive intervention due to their objectively identified high risk. This program was methodologically designed to tackle inmates’ specific needs and also to identify important intervention targets for each of the stages of the process in accordance with prison population’s risk levels.

This prison has sectors for extremely violent inmates who committed violent crimes. These areas deliver special interventions in order to handle conflictive or violent inmates’ profiles through the Service for the Reduction of Violence which is formed by an expert team that addresses violent inmates’ issues.


UNIT 19 –EZEIZA PENAL COLONY

Housing Areas

Usable Operational Capacity: 284

Security Level: Category C

Prison Population: Male inmates

Facility’s characteristics:

This prison was built as a penal colony for low to very low-risk inmates. It has big agricultural and livestock workshops.

It has 6 prison wings for 32 inmates each. It also has a complex of houses for inmates who are undergoing the last stage of their sentence plan.

History

The Ezeiza Penal Colony (Unit 19) is located in the outskirts of the city of Ezeiza in the province of Buenos Aires. It was built on the premises originally owned by the wealthy family of José María Ezeiza, and it was Mr. Ezeiza who actually donated this land on 15th March 1963 to the then National Directorate of Penal Institutions of Argentina –nowadays Federal Prison Service. It was officially inaugurated as a prison unit on 20th April 1968, and it covers a surface of 350 hectares.

Interventions

This type of facility works essentially on a comprehensive approach which addresses the protective factors which aim mainly at crime desistance. This approach has been implemented according to the sentence plan and backing up the inmates’ release plan.

Also, the Unit holds special workshops aimed at developing protective factors that will have an impact on crime desistance through the sustained and constant process of social integration. The workshops are as follows: Development of Personal Skills, Family and Social Networks; Social Skills Training; Vocational and Labor Training; Self-sustainable Economy and Financial Skills.

The Unit has established the position of “prison mentor”. The mentor is a prison officer who will accompany and monitor inmates on their path to their release. He will help the inmates make their release plan through the development of skills and potentialities thus influencing in a positive way the last stage of the treatment.

Unit 19 also runs socio-labor programs such as the dog training program known as “Pathways to Hope”. This program has a charitable mission with a tremendous social significance. Inmates train service dogs for people with motor, visual and auditory disabilities. Inmates taking part in this program empathize on the needs of others and develop care and responsibility skills. The Unit holds the following workshops, as well: cheese factory; pig-farming; vegetable garden; masonry; dairy farm; carpentry and blacksmith; mechanics and vehicle body and paint repair. These workshops are vital to generate labor habits, increase social participation and promote solidarity among inmates.


UNIT 31 - FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER FOR WOMEN

Housing Areas

Usable Operational Capacity: 243

Security Level: Category B

Prison Population: Female and male inmates

Facility’s characteristics:

It was inaugurated in 1996 and it is made up of 2 housing sectors: a separate residential unit for male inmates, and a sector for housing female inmates. This Unit also has a Pre-release house and a Day Care center for children up to 4 years old who live with their mothers.

Sector A: residential unit for male adults

It has 8 wings with a capacity for 11 inmates each, and 2 common wings with 22 places each.

Sector B: residential unit for female inmates

This sector has room-type individual cells, as well as 8 wings for 11 inmates and 2 wings for 15 inmates each.

“Nuestra Señora del Rosario de San Nicolás” Day Care Center”

This center is located at Unit 31 and cares for children from 45 days to 4 years old. Furthermore, it has a team of health professionals ready to meet the needs of children housed with their mothers. This team is made up of pediatricians, nutritionists and child psychologists.

Juana Azurduy de Padilla Pre-release houses

There are 6 pre-release houses located outside the unit’s security perimeter. These are semi-detached houses for female inmates with low recidivism risk and a high degree of motivation to change.

History

The Federal Detention Center for Women, Unit 31, was inaugurated on 5th June 1996. By the end of the nineties, the female prison population had started to increase especially due to women imprisoned for having violated the Narcotics Law No. 23,737. Therefore, the SPF was forced to cope immediately with the lack of housing places for female inmates.

Interventions

Specific interventions are provided according to female inmates specific needs. The objective is to offer adequate standards regarding female inmates’ treatment and address their personal risks and needs, by treating them decently and permitting them their full exercise of their rights, in order to contribute to their identity personal development. Apart from this, interventions allow them to acquire labor, cultural and social skills that help them reduce social vulnerability, as well as facilitate the adequate transition to the community.

In addition, interventions are meant to give them access to an appropriate comprehensive health care system, to create equal opportunities and conditions in the area of treatment pursuant to inmates’ needs, to provide them with labor, cultural and social skills that allow them to reduce social vulnerability, to facilitate an adequate transition to the community, to give pregnant inmates and/or those housed with children the pertinent benefits according to their needs, and to raise staff’s awareness and train them in regulations on gender, human rights and on the principle of equality and non-discrimination.

The Unit has also established the position of “prison mentor”, but it has a different role. The mentor is an officer in the area of prevention who fosters closer bonds with inmates and personally listens to them. In this way, empathy is developed and a fair and humane treatment is provided. As a result, female inmates will be much more willing to follow the prison treatment and the levels of security and order inside the prison will increase.

Furthermore, the Unit also offers a Gender Violence Workshop that aims at women who have suffered any kind of violence, either domestic, psychological or physical. The workshop objective is to foster the construction of inmates’ personal identity, and to facilitate the acquisition of skills to face mistreatment, as well as help them avoid pathological bonds, for example, that of the aggressor and the aggrieved.

 
 * Facility Visits are available only to delegates with full conference registrations