Peruvian prisons at risk of closure due to extreme overcrowding

Peruvian prisons at risk of closure due to extreme overcrowding

The situation arises at a time when Peru is experiencing a major security problem due to the rise of organized crime in the form of extortion and its correlate of murders by hired killers, prompting parliament to increase prison sentences. The Constitutional Court’s (TC) deadline will expire next May and was raised following a complaint from a sick prisoner who claimed that he was sleeping on the floor of a prison corridor in the southern city o…

What began as the lawsuit of a sick prisoner in Tacna prison who slept on the floor ended with a ruling of the Constitutional Court (TC) on overcrowding in the country’s prisons. In May 2020, the TC stated in a ruling that “there is a unconstitutional state of affairs regarding the permanent and critical overcrowding of prisons and the severe deficiencies in shelter capacity.”