Abstract

GUIMARAES, Alice Soares; MACLEAN SORUCO, Enrique  and  EGUIVAR, Mario A.. Prison, Human Rights and Public Health in the context of the COVID-2019 pandemic. rlde [online]. 2020, n.34, pp.35-66. ISSN 2074-4706.

This article analyzes a group particularly vulnerable to the COVID-2019 pandemic: people deprived of liberty (PDL). We present the current situation of PDL and the conditions inside Bolivian prisons, insofar as they affect PDL’s health. Subsequently, we identify the main structural factors behind PDL’s greater epidemiological vulnerability, not only to COVID-2019, but to epidemics in general. Different institutions involved in fighting the pandemic have developed recommendations for its prevention and treatment within prisons. Considering these recommendations and the data about Bolivian PDL, we put forward proposals for political and legal reforms to reduce the epidemiological vulnerability of this population. We argue that, while some are simple to implement, many face structural obstacles, demanding profound reforms in prison policy and the penal system.

Keywords : Prison; human rights; public health; prison policy; penal system; Bolivia.

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