JUSTICE TRENDS JUSTICE TRENDS Nr. 1 | June 2017 | Page 149

LATIN AMERICA / AMERICA LATINA
and with universities in the region.
In this way, for example, the cooperation agreement (Honduras –
Dominican Republic – Regional Penitentiary Academy) coordinates
and channels the academic and institutional strengthening of
both countries in prison matters. In this case, Honduras needed a
penitentiary public policy: it was supported and the country already
has it; it lacked the design of the penitentiary school… Well, it
has been developed and produced. In the case of other countries,
cooperation is also triangulated. Sometimes, in supporting this
triangulation, certain co–operators participate: it may be the case
of a country, an international organization, or a Foundation that
wants to collaborate with the penitentiary improvement of a specific
country in the region.
An important element of this connection with the
Dominican penitentiary model refers to the support offered by
the ARP to the specialization program implemented over the last
5 years. At the moment, the 3rd promotion of masters, university
specialists in prison administration, penitentiary treatment and
prison management. By exceeding the tertiary level of education
or degree, and by involving the bulk of prison officials in masters,
we are entering a level of qualification that guarantees a place of
leadership in the context of what is the management of the State,
since that not in all departments of the State – particularly in Latin
America – executives are people with a specialization level, and
even less in the penitentiary sector. colaboración con el ILANUD y con universidades de la región.
Así, por ejemplo, el convenio de cooperación (Honduras –
República Dominicana – Academia Regional Penitenciaria)
coordina y canaliza el intercambio académico y de fortalecimiento
institucional de ambos países en materia penitenciaria. En este
caso, Honduras necesitaba una política pública penitenciaria:
se le apoyó y ya la tiene; el diseño de escuela penitenciaria, se
diseñó y ya lo tiene. En el caso de otros países también se triangula
la cooperación. A veces, apoyando esa triangulación, participan
determinados cooperantes, puede ser el caso de un país, de un
organismo internacional, o de una Fundación que quiere colaborar
con el mejoramiento penitenciario de un país de la región.
Un elemento importante de la conexión con el modelo
penitenciario dominicano se refiere al apoyo que ofrece la ARP
al programa de especialización implementado desde hace 5 años
y que en este momento cursa la 3ª promoción de maestrandos,
de especialistas universitarios, en administración penitenciaria, en
tratamiento penitenciario y en gestión penitenciaria. Al superar el
nivel terciario de la educación o Grado, e involucrar en maestrías
al grueso de los funcionarios penitenciarios, estamos entrando
en un nivel de cualificación que avala un lugar de liderazgo en el
contexto de lo que es la gestión del Estado, ya que no en todas las
dependencias del Estado – particularmente en América Latina – los
ejecutivos son personas con nivel de especialización y aún menos
en el sector penitenciario.
Another important aspect, in which the ARP works in coordination
with the prison systems of the region, refers to the International
Forum of Penitentiary Experts, which brings together every year
worldwide penitentiary talent to tackle issues that the region
requires. In these last years we have received the legacy of the
vast knowledge and experience of Andrew Coyle, Vivien Stern,
Eugenio Zaffaroni, Elías Carranza, Claus Roxin, Elio Gómez Grillo
and Kristher Isackson, among others. This year, the 9th Forum
will be held in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is working to relaunch its
penitentiary reform, which was successfully initially launched in
the 1970s, thus a pioneer in the Latin American region. Today it
requires a new impetus and it is ARP’s decision to institutionally
support that will of Costa Rica. In the same way, the ARP develops
the program of the Latin American Penitentiary Workshop, which
meets three times a year by videoconference. Hundreds of officials
of the penitentiary systems of the region join it, in order to get
updates on priority issues such as Human Rights, Training and
Penitentiary Career, Women In Prison, Social and Professional
Insertion and Recidivism, Organized Crime in Prison, Corruption,
and others. Using this pedagogical “moving picture” is also a way
of maintaining the issue of penitentiary improvement in public
attention.
Both the International Forum of Penitentiary Experts, and the
Latin American Penitentiary Workshop, are held every year in the
framework of c