All About Prisons

NEWS

Venezuelan Military ‘Invades’ Notorious Prison

PRISONS / 20 SEP 2023

In a clear show of force, the Venezuelan state launched an unprecedented operation, surrounding the Tocorón prison in Aragua.

BARRIO 18 / 16 AUG 2023

The PNFAS has been the scene of two massacres. For years, the tension between Barrio 18 and MS13 escalated.

BARRIO 18 / 4 AUG 2023

Military crackdowns and mass trials show that there's no end in sight in El Salvador's anti-gang state of exception.

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 1 AUG 2023

An annual review of Brazil's security landscape paints a highly pessimistic outlook for the country's criminal woes.

CHONEROS / 20 JUL 2023

The Choneros were once Ecuador's premier drug trafficking gang. InSight Crime documents their steady rise and their rapid fall.

FEATURED / 13 JUL 2023

Listen to this article This audio was generated using text-to-speech software Insecurity is rising in Paraguay, and the government is increasing recruitment opportunities for organized crime groups by jailing thousands…

ELITES AND CRIME / 12 JUL 2023

Venezuela's Presidents Chávez and Maduro, to secure long-term power, ensured the country's criminal groups would answer to them.

COLECTIVOS / 12 JUL 2023

President Maduro has proven highly resilient, weathering sanctions abroad and an economic crisis at home. His hybrid state creation helped him to do so.

ELITES AND CRIME / 12 JUL 2023

Tren de Aragua became Venezuela's most feared homegrown gang by first thoroughly controlling the prison of Tocorón and then, the neighborhood of San Vicente.

BARRIO 18 / 28 JUN 2023

The Honduran government's anti-gang crackdown risks oversimplifying the causes behind the country's violence.

BRAZIL / 22 JUN 2023

Latin America's constantly growing prison population has seen tens of thousands of children growing up without their parents, with dire consequences.

GENDER AND CRIME / 21 JUN 2023

A massacre in Honduras is the deadliest at a woman's prison in Latin American history. InSight Crime recently visited this prison to assess conditions.

BARRIO 18 / 5 JUN 2023

After six months, the state of exception in Honduras has failed to significantly reduce gang violence and extortion.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…