Una perspectiva general sobre mujeres y prisiones en América Latina y Colombia ResumenEn este artículo analizamos la situación de la mujer privada de la libertad en el contexto latinoamericano, haciendo énfasis en el caso de Colombia. Pretendemos contribuir al debate en torno a la experiencia penitenciaria femenina, con especial atención en los siguientes aspectos: a través de la recopilación, organización y análisis de los datos disponibles sobre la población penitenciaria femenina, buscamos contribuir a llenar el vacío que existe en materia de información sobre las mujeres y el sistema penitenciario; con base en lo anterior, mostramos que el carácter diferencial de la política criminal y penitenciaria en relación con las mujeres puede hallarse en que experimentan con mayor rigor el giro punitivo tanto local como regional de las últimas décadas frente al tráfico de drogas; por último, mostramos que esta afectación especial tiende a concentrarse en mujeres que se encontraban en circunstancias previas de exclusión económica y social, fenómeno que puede describirse como una feminización punitiva de la pobreza.Palabras clave: mujer, feminismo, criminología feminista, sistema penitenciario y carcelario, giro punitivo, narcotráfico, políticas de drogas, feminización de la pobreza.

The aim of this article is to show how, despite the political and economic reforms of the last three decades, which have embraced the ideals of free markets and democracy, social and economic exclusion, as well as authoritarianism, are still the main features of most of Latin American societies. For this reason, they may be considered democracies without citizenship. The article focuses on the impact that these features have had on the configuration of Latin American crime control fields, which in most cases are highly punitive. It also discusses how Latin American crime control fields have contributed in turn to the advancement of such reforms.

In recent years, there has been a growing debate on how, and whether, during the past three decades, a neoliberal penal State, with close ties to the new economic order, has emerged in the United States and in other nations of the Global North. This article seeks to analyse, based on the criticisms that the neoliberal penal State theory has been subject to, whether, and to what extent, such a take on neoliberalism and the penal State may contribute to attaining a plausible explanation of Latin American crime control fields.

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In both criminology and the sociology of punishment there has been a rebirth of the political economy of crime and punishment, where the relationship between these phenomena and levels of inequality within a given society is a key aspect, to assess the transformation and features of the crime control fields of contemporary societies and to relate them to different typologies. This chapter will discuss and problematize this perspective through the analysis of Latin American crime control fields. Considering the flaws of general typologies, usually coming from the global north, the chapter will stress the need for a more detailed comparative analysis of the penal state and the institutional structures, dynamics and dispositions present in every jurisdiction, in both the global north and south, that have a direct impact on penal policy and its outcomes.