Prison officers in Latin America: quality of life, working conditions and main difficulties.

Although the number of empirical studies on prison inmates in Latin America has increased in recent years, an aspect that still remains little studied is the situation of prison workers. This article analyzes the labor situation of prison officers in Latin America, and considers their working conditions, quality of life and the problems that affect them, in a region marked by precarious, overcrowded and violent prison systems. To do so, a systematic review of articles published in Spanish or Portuguese on the Scielo platform between 2000-2021 was carried out. Our main findings show that prison officers suffer from significant levels of stress and work overload; and carry out their work in poor conditions; with long working hours; performing an invisible and socially undervalued job; with important risks of negative consequences for their physical and mental health. Finally, some implications of the findings and some lines of intervention are discussed.

Funcionarios penitenciarios en América Latina: calidad de vida, condiciones laborales y principales problemáticas / Prison officers in Latin America: quality of life, working conditions and main difficulties

Aunque los estudios empíricos sobre personas privadas de libertad en América Latina han venido creciendo en los últimosaños, un aspecto que aún permanece poco estudiado lo constituyen los trabajadores penitenciarios. El presente artículo analizala situación laboral de los funcionarios penitenciarios en Latinoamérica, ahondando en sus condiciones de trabajo, su calidad devida y las problemáticas que les afectan, dentro de una región marcada por sistemas carcelarios precarios, hacinados y violentos.Para ello, se realizó una revisión sistemática de artículos publicados en español o portugués en la plataforma Scielo, entre losaños 2000-2021.Nuestros principales hallazgos muestran una relación con funcionarios penitenciarios con importantes niveles de estrés y sobrecarga laboral, que desempeñan su trabajo en condiciones precarias, con jornadas de trabajo largas, un trabajo invisible y pocovalorado socialmente, y arrastrando importantes riesgos de consecuencias negativas en su salud física y mental. Finalmente, se discuten algunas implicaciones de los hallazgos y las líneas de intervención. (AU)

Although the number of empirical studies on prison inmates in Latin America has increased in recent years, an aspect thatstill remains little studied is the situation of prison workers. This article analyzes the labor situation of prison officers inLatin America, and considers their working conditions, quality of life and the problems that affect them, in a region markedby precarious, overcrowded and violent prison systems. To do so, a systematic review of articles published in Spanish orPortuguese on the Scielo platform between 2000-2021 was carried out.Our main findings show that prison officers suffer from significant levels of stress and work overload; and carry out theirwork in poor conditions; with long working hours; performing an invisible and socially undervalued job; with importantrisks of negative consequences for their physical and mental health. Finally, some implications of the findings and some lines of intervention are discussed. (AU)

Inmate-on-Inmate Prison Violence in Chile: The Importance of the Institutional Context and Proper Supervision.

In this article, using a quantitative approach, we analyze interpersonal, inmate-on-inmate physical violence in Chilean prisons, using administrative records on collective violence, provided by the Prison Service for the period 2014 to 2017. Violence behind bars is problematic as it threatens inmates' fundamental rights such as personal safety but also because it undermines efforts to maintain an environment prone to inmates' social reintegration. Our data showed a sharp increase in the number of collective fights, from 808 in 2014 to more than 4,000 in 2017. In terms of the predictors, being in a private prisons as well as a greater ratio of inmates to guards were associated with increased collective fights for each of the 4 years we examined. Two additional predictors were statistically significant, yet only for 2017: A higher average criminal involvement score and a smaller ratio between inmates/staff were both associated with increased violence. Despite the fact that prison violence has not yet reached the scale or level of brutality that can be seen in other parts of the region (i.e., Brazil), there are signs of concern that authorities should take into account, particularly the rapid increase in collective fights in just a 4-year period and the recent social turmoil that has taken place in Chile, whose impact cannot be seen yet from these data. In terms of recommendations, we suggest that authorities should prioritize efforts in four areas: (a) to gather better data on prison violence, including some reliable data on importation variables (age, criminal history, and nationality); (b) to provide prison guards with tools to anticipate and mediate conflicts; (c) to revise and possibly modify the way prisoners are transferred to different facilities, and (d) in sum, to promote prison environments that can be more legitimate and supportive to inmates' reintegration.

Alcohol consumption among Chilean adolescents: Examining individual, peer, parenting and environmental factors.

AIMS: This study examined whether adolescents from Santiago, Chile who had never drunk alcohol differed from those who had drunk alcohol but who had never experienced an alcohol-related problem, as well as from those who had drunk and who had experienced at least one alcohol-related problem on a number of variables from four domains - individual, peers, parenting, and environmental. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Community based sample. PARTICIPANTS: 909 adolescents from Santiago, Chile. MEASUREMENTS: Data were analyzed with multinomial logistic regression to compare adolescents who had never drunk alcohol (non-drinkers) with i) those that had drunk but who had experienced no alcohol-related problems (non-problematic drinkers) and ii) those who had drunk alcohol and had experienced at least one alcohol-related problem (problematic drinkers). The analyses included individual, peer, parenting, and environmental factors while controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. FINDINGS: Compared to non-drinkers, both non-problematic and problematic drinkers were older, reported having more friends who drank alcohol, greater exposure to alcohol ads, lower levels of parental monitoring, and more risk-taking behaviors. In addition, problematic drinkers placed less importance on religious faith to make daily life decisions and had higher perceptions of neighborhood crime than non-drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention programs aimed at decreasing problematic drinking could benefit from drawing upon adolescents' spiritual sources of strength, reinforcing parental tools to monitor their adolescents, and improving environmental and neighborhood conditions.

[Neighborhood Systematic Social Observation; The Case of Chile and its Perspectives for Social Work.] / La Observación Sistemática de Vecindarios: El caso de Chile y sus perspectivas para Trabajo Social.

The study of neighborhood characteristics and their effects on individuals has become an area of increasing attention by scholars from various disciplines in developed countries. Although there are various methods to study neighborhoods and their impact on human populations, one of the most used is the Systematic Social Observation -Observación Sistemática de Vecindarios (OSV), in Spanish-because it allows the collection of information about various features of the physical, social, environmental and economic characteristics of neighborhoods. The purpose of this article is to (i) briefly present some research on neighborhood effects influential in the U.S., ii) describe how they Systematic Social Observation was designed and implemented in the city of Santiago, Chile, iii) discuss some facilitators and obstacles of the implementation process and, finally iv) list possible contributions and limitations this approach would offer the profession of social work in Chile.