Prison Practices Bank
Welcome to the first Specialized Bank of Penitentiary Practices in Spanish. Below, you will be able to access nine categories of practices that include more than sixty programs and activities implemented worldwide in the prison sector. This bank of Penitentiary Practices was created as part of the project “Promotion of Prison Reform in Latin America,” coordinated by the Justice and Society Study Center of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in collaboration with the Rule of Law Program for Latin America of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The objective of this project was to formulate prison reform proposals in Chile and Colombia based on the analysis of comparative information between both countries. You can find more information about the project, as well as its products, here.
Do you want to know how this bank was built?
The creation of this Penitentiary Practices Bank was developed through a systematic review of studies and meta-analyses that evaluated practices and programs implemented in prisons, with rigorous evidence regarding their effectiveness in promoting the cessation of crime and/or the rights of persons deprived of liberty. For its development, the AMSTAR (A measurement tool to assess systematic reviews) procedure was followed, which allowed the identification of 120 studies of this nature that determine as effective 60 practices and programs related to the concepts of «prisons» and «rehabilitation».
If you wish to delve deeper into how the information in this Penitentiary Practices Bank was generated, you can access the following Methodological sheet.
Internships
Access below the different types of prison practices carried out to help individuals deprived of their liberty exercise their rights, abandon their criminal paths, and reintegrate into society.
Inside each one, you will be able to find a list of programs that have been implemented in different prisons to carry out each type of practice in a more structured and organized way.
Practices focused on reducing criminal recidivism
Education, training and job placement
Education and grade level completion
Cognitive behavioral interventions or therapies
Community reintegration and transition to freedom
Treatments for problematic drug and/or alcohol use
Practices focused on the promotion of rights within prisons
Promotion of physical and mental health
Religion and promotion of spirituality
Promotion of visits and contact with family and friends
Restorative justice in correctional facilities
Program finder
Join our Bank or evaluate your program
If you are in charge of implementing a prison program that has already been evaluated and you wish to include it in our Bank, or if you would like us to evaluate an initiative, contact us here: