It was August 31, 1993, and the sun was shining when eight men entered a makeshift soccer pitch in the middle of the Taubaté prison.
A burst of attempted contraband smuggling into Panama’s largest prison complex has challenged governments claims about the success of recent reforms in bolstering security within the country’s penitentiaries, as well…
A drug kitchen was openly run by inmates inside Paraguay’s biggest prison, Tacumbú, in one of the clearest representations to date about how corruption has taken over the country’s penitentiary…
A federal prison that housed some of Mexico’s most powerful crime bosses will shut down, marking the end for a facility that saw everything from high-profile escapes to lavish parties…
Inmate deaths have doubled in Venezuela's jails during the coronavirus pandemic, a crisis that underscores how the country's anarchic prisons foment violence and spread disease.
Targeted killings, massacres, and deadly riots have all occurred in Honduras' maximum-security prisons this year, putting a spotlight on how violence has spiraled out of control despite government efforts to…
Inmate uprisings have ripped through prisons in Latin America amid COVID-19 outbreaks, offering further evidence that the region’s prison systems are buckling under the pressure of the pandemic.
As part of his work in human rights, transitional justice and prison reform, Michael Reed has been inside dozens of prisons across the Americas. Reed, a dual US-Colombian citizen, is…
Deadly violence within female prisons in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador is rare. But a spate of recent murders in a Honduran prison appears to be a warning sign that…
Homicides in western Panama have surged in a cycle of revenge killings, as one of the country's largest gangs struggles to maintain power and control over increasing drug flows.
In mid-March, alarms were being raised about how vulnerable Venezuelan prisoners were to the spread of the coronavirus and the draconian measures implemented to prevent its spread.
The coronavirus has upended crime. But measuring it has not been easy. And predicting its impact going forward may be even more difficult.
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InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area
Through several rounds of extensive field investigations, our researchers have analyzed and mapped out the main illicit economies and criminal groups present in 39 border departments spread across the six countries of study – the Northern Triangle trio of Guatemala, Honduras, and El…
InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize
The staff at InSight Crime was awarded the prestigious Simón Bolívar national journalism prize in Colombia for its two-year investigation into the drug trafficker known as “Memo Fantasma,” which was…
InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works
This project began 10 years ago as an effort to address a problem: the lack of daily coverage, investigative stories and analysis of organized crime in the Americas. …
InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas
In early 2009, Steven Dudley was in Medellín, Colombia. His assignment: speak to a jailed paramilitary leader in the Itagui prison, just south of the city. Following his interview inside…
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