Promoting Prison Reform through Collaborative Research: A Case Study in Chile

Prison systems in Latin America currently present various problems that include severe overcrowding, high levels of violence, scarce access to reintegration programs, and high recidivism, among others. In this precarious context, the effective reintegration of incarcerated people becomes very problematic and unlikely since, upon leaving prison, people face various barriers that are combined with a series of accumulated disadvantages that were amplified by the experience of incarceration. However, a somewhat forgotten prerequisite for effective reintegration processes is the development of evidence-based policies that rely on good data at different levels of the criminal justice chain. To address this problem, the research team partnered with the Chilean prison service in Chile and gathered data on various indicators that were relevant for prison life and rehabilitation, creating an integrated visualization prototype. Thus, this article summarizes the design, implementation process, and main results of this collaborative initiative carried out between 2022 and 2023, including various examples of the displayed prototype. A mixed-methods approach was used, which combined the use of surveys and administrative data, with more than 110 qualitative interviews, along with geocoded material and an analysis of the prison-related normative context. Both the prototype of integrated visualization and the various research products derived from this project are generating useful information for prison administrators and decision makers to enhance the chances for better reintegration of incarcerated people in Chile. Finally, possibilities and limitations of this case study are discussed considering the U.S. context and the Smart Decarceration Initiative.