From 2016 to 2021, corruption within prisons increased from 10.8 to 17.2%, from the moment of incarceration and during the criminal process, revealed the National Survey of Population Deprived of Liberty (ENPOL) 2021, prepared by the National Institute of Statistic and Geography (Inegi).
The percentage of the population that was a victim of acts of corruption in at least one of the stages of the criminal process from his arrest to the completion of his trial and incarceration life was 36.2 percent. The population that suffered acts of corruption within the prisons it was located at 17.2 percent.
“There is an increase in victimization by acts of corruption within prisons, which goes from 10.8% in 2016 to 17.2% in 2021,” reiterated the president of Inegi, Julio Santaella Castell, during the presentation of the results of the ENPOL 2021.
In ENPOL 2021 it is estimated that 55.3% of the population deprived of liberty paid within the penitentiary in the last 12 months for the roll call; have electronic devices (43.2%); cell change (34%); have drinking water (31.9%); receive medications (30%); have a bed or mat (28.3%); have access to a telephone (24.3%); go out to the courtyard to visit (22.1%); access an intimate visit (21.9%); access medical services (18.3%); and protection (8.4%).
96.4% of the private population of freedom who paid for a service, good, benefit or permit in the penitentiary between July 2020 and July 2021, and did not file a complaint or complaint with any authority. Of these, 33.6% did not report, considering that corruption is a common practice.
First benefits of criminal justice reform
However, he highlighted that the survey identified the first possible benefits of the implementation of the criminal justice reform that began in 2016, since of the more than 220,000 people held in federal and state centers, the sentenced population increased, in addition to they reduced arrests.
In that framework, Oscar Jaimes Bello, director of Inegi Government, Public Security and Justice Statistics, explained that “it can be observed through people who are four years old or less since their admission to the penitentiary, there is a reduction means going from 51.8% to 39.5% between 2016 and 2021 this indicates a reduction in the number of arrests ”.
“The survey also tells us that the population sentenced (increased) in the case of serious crimes such as homicide and kidnapping, and decreased in cases of robbery. This may indicate progress in the implementation of the criminal justice reform that enters full force as of June 2016 ”, he estimated. He specified that at the national level, 27.8% of the prison population is still under criminal proceedings, and the rest (72%) are already serving a sentence.
At the national level, 32.7% of the sentenced population deprived of liberty was convicted of the crime of robbery. Of these, 35.3% corresponds to vehicle theft.
Óscar Jaimes affirmed that ENPOL 2021 did not collect information on the operation of criminal groups inside the detention centers; “What we have are actions by the inmates, in terms of population for crimes (…) we have a frequency of robbery,” he said.
He said that another element possibly attributable to the criminal justice reform is that the population that accuses illegal detention has been reduced. It indicated that 44% of the detained population accuse that they are unjustly detained, and 41% accept that they committed a crime.
“When comparing with 2016, a decrease is observed in the population that mentions having been falsely accused: it went from 54.5% in 2016 to 44% in 2021,” he indicated.
The president of Inegi, Julio Santaella, said that the purpose of ENPOL 2021 is “to know what has happened throughout this entire process for people who have been deprived of liberty, in terms of due process, crimes for which they are deprived of liberty, experiences of incarceration, on the infrastructure of the penitentiary centers in which they are detained, what type of services and goods are provided in these centers, experiences of victimization that they suffer so much for violence within prisons, as well as acts of corruption, “he said.
The survey showed that of the population that was deprived of liberty between June and July 2021 in State and Federal Penitentiary Centers, 19.1% were detained by means of an arrest warrant, while 9.3% were detained in flagrante delicto, that is, during the commission of the alleged crime.
The population with four years or less of having entered the penitentiary was located at 39.5 percent. Similarly, 36% of the population deprived of liberty was detained by the Ministerial or Judicial Police.
Meanwhile, 48.6% of the population deprived of liberty received physical attacks at the time of their arrest; 38.4% of those who suffered physical attacks indicated having been kicked or punched by the police or the authority that detained them, while 23% mentioned having been suffocated or hanged.
On the other hand, 15.5% of the population of women who suffered physical assaults, stated that they had received sexual assaults by the police or the authority that detained them; and 4.8% were victims of rape during their detention; 27.8% of the population deprived of liberty is in the process of receiving a sentence.
Of this population, 39.2% have been in a penitentiary for two years or more, while 24.8% have been confined between one and two years. Of the population deprived of liberty that has received a sentence, 29.8% were convicted of murder and 12.2% of kidnapping. On the other hand, the population sentenced for robbery stood at 32.7 percent.
During 2021, 25.9% of the population deprived of liberty felt unsafe in the penitentiary, while 34.1% of the population was the victim of illegal conduct inside the penitentiary. Of this population, 87.7% suffered the theft of personal items and 4.6% were victims of sexual harassment.
This is the second edition of the ENPOL after 2016. The purpose of the survey was to generate relevant statistical information on the processing and internment conditions of the population aged 18 years and more than legally deprived of their liberty in penitentiary centers, their demographic and socioeconomic profile, the crimes for which they were prosecuted and sentenced, among other characteristics.
ENPOL 2021 surveyed directly, and face to face, prisoners in 203 penitentiary centers at the federal and state levels in the 32 states that concentrated 95.5% of the population deprived of liberty between June and July 2021. The statistical design of ENPOL 2021 allowed for representation at the national level, by federal entity and for 54 penitentiary centers of interest.
The information reference period was from July 2020 to July 2021. For the ENPOL 2021 survey, a sample of 67,584 people aged 18 years and over deprived of liberty in state and federal prisons was considered, which included to the entire female population, which as of June 2021 represented 5.7% of the total.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx