Three out of ten prisoners in the province of Buenos Aires are innocent...
...according to data recently released by the province of Buenos Aires's office of the attorney general, reports the Buenos Aires daily, El Clarin. The data also reveals the following sobering facts:
- Nine out of ten prisoners come from Buenos Aires's poorest sectors of society.
- Those charged with crimes often wait up to four years in remand before going trial.
- 75% of prisoners in the province of Buenos Aires jails are in these remand situations; that's to say, they have yet to be found guilty of the crimes they're accused of.
- Those found to be innocent after such long, indefinite periods of incarceration are rarely compensated.
- Public defendants appointed to represent these poor prisoners spend little time with these prisoners.
- There are 31,000 prisoners cramped into Buenos Aires's 39 jails. This population has increased by 10,000 prisoners in 10 years.
- 28% of those charged with crimes are absolved once their cases get heard.
- The sharp increase in the prison population over the past 10 years and the disquieting percentage of innocent prisoners is attributed by the report, in part, to an overzealous provincial police force more interested in showing the "effectiveness" of their force than in due process and facts.
- Even more disturbing, there are cases where provincial police have knowingly arrested the wrong person in order to protect those that actually committed the crime.
- Nine out of ten prisoners come from Buenos Aires's poorest sectors of society.
- Those charged with crimes often wait up to four years in remand before going trial.
- 75% of prisoners in the province of Buenos Aires jails are in these remand situations; that's to say, they have yet to be found guilty of the crimes they're accused of.
- Those found to be innocent after such long, indefinite periods of incarceration are rarely compensated.
- Public defendants appointed to represent these poor prisoners spend little time with these prisoners.
- There are 31,000 prisoners cramped into Buenos Aires's 39 jails. This population has increased by 10,000 prisoners in 10 years.
- 28% of those charged with crimes are absolved once their cases get heard.
- The sharp increase in the prison population over the past 10 years and the disquieting percentage of innocent prisoners is attributed by the report, in part, to an overzealous provincial police force more interested in showing the "effectiveness" of their force than in due process and facts.
- Even more disturbing, there are cases where provincial police have knowingly arrested the wrong person in order to protect those that actually committed the crime.
posted by Marcelo Vieta at
4:25 PM
