Prison studies

In today's Western society, and despite all appearances to the contrary, the forms of confinement -both public and private- are multiple and, even more so, the effects they produce on persons deprived of their liberty. The state institutions destined for this purpose, as social representations, manifest from their statements the rehabilitation of the populations that inhabit them while, many times in reality the purpose of rehabilitation is far from being fulfilled, turning the prison institution, due to the levels of recidivism that occur, into a school or simple hangout for delinquents.
In recent years, research on prisons has multiplied and diversified, addressing the phenomenon from perspectives as diverse as the study of prison counterculture, prison libraries, social and labor reinsertion of those released from prison, prisoner motivation, comparative studies of prison regimes in different countries, analysis of the effectiveness of electronic surveillance systems, treatment and assistance programs for inmates, and internal communication within prisons. All of them conclude that an urgent penal and penitentiary reform is necessary to avoid more crimes and human rights violations in Argentinean prisons.
Historically, work constituted a vital element of confinement, since it performed fundamental functions: on the one hand, it occupied the inmates' time and, on the other, it prevented conflicts. That is to say, work established an instrument of discipline for the inmate by occupying his mind in a labor activity, keeping away any idea that implied disorder or the breakdown of coexistence. Other doctrinaires considered it as a way to obtain benefits through the use of cheap labor under the justification of deserved punishment. The work of the inmate was always defined, together with solitary confinement, as an effective agent for penitentiary transformation since the beginning of the 19th century, since leisure was considered the beginning of bad living.

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