This book analyzes the prison systems in the Americas in the twenty-first century. Leading experts discuss the state of the prison systems in their respective countries, focusing on trends of overcrowding, high recidivism rates, harsh drug laws, human rights, and the relationship between prisons, drug trafficking, and organized crime.

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Ch 1: General Trends in Prisons in the Americas, Astrid Arrarás and Emily D. Bello-Pardo North America Ch 2. Broken Systems: Prisons and Prison Gangs in California and the United States, Susan Phillips and Jonathan D. Rosen Ch 3: The Penitentiary System in Mexico: An Institution Permeated by Corruption and Controlled by Organized Crime, Roberto Zepeda Martínez Central America Ch 4: Drugs, Crime, and Prisons in Guatemala, Tamara Rice Lave The Caribbean Ch 5: Haiti: Prisons, Organized Crime, and Drug Trafficking, Christa L. Remington & Jean-Claude Garcia-Zamor Ch 6: Retribution vs. Reintegration: The Trinidad and Tobago Reality, Dianne Williams and Randy Seepersad The Andean Region Ch 7: An Organized Chaos: Venezueläs Prison Crisis, Brian Fonseca and Pamela Pamelá Ch 8: Drugs and Prisons: the Slippery Road to the Criminalization of Drugs in Ecuador, Adrián Bonilla and Nashira Chavez Ch 9: A Special Kind of Hell: The Bolivian Penal, System Marten W. Brienen Ch 10: Drugs and the Prison Crisis in Peru, Lucía Dammert and Manuel Dammert Guardia The Southern Cone Ch 11: Beyond Overcrowding: the Decline of the Brazilian Penitentiary System, Marcelo Rocha e Silva Zorovich Ch 12: The Drug-Crime-Prison Nexus: What the U. S. Experience Suggests to Argentina, Khatchik DerGhougassian and Sebastián Cutrona An International Solution Ch 13: Prison Reform: An International Solution, W. Andy Knight