Overcrowding behind bars: an approach to the prison quota system

Durán R.J.C. · Boletin Mexicano de Derecho Comparado (2024) · DOI: 10.22201/iij.24484873e.2024.171.19198

Resumen

The prison quota system is one of the measures least discussed by the academy with regard to prison overcrowding, despite finding normative support in principle XVII of Resolution 1/08 of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and being considered by some as the only way to limit the current global trend of mass incarceration. The purpose of this contribution was to explore the guidelines for the application of the aforementioned system and to reflect on its binding nature, taking the Peruvian legal system as a reference, having analyzed various literary and normative sources for this purpose. It was concluded that the quota system has the potential to significantly reduce incarceration and avoid a return to a critical prison situation, since it entails: the establishment of a multisectoral commission to determine prison quotas and oversee their compliance; the publication and control of the register of declared and occupied quotas; the regulation of prison depopulation measures and their application procedure; as well as the prohibition of overcrowding, with the corresponding sanc-tion in case of non-compliance. And, although there is no binding regional instrument aimed at combating overcrowding, principle XVII was endowed with normative value by Peru and is of obligatory observance, binding the State to implement the system through a law.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos